Friends to the End
by Ark9
Summary: **Finished!** ...and so my first chapter-fic has come to a close. Basically, Ash runs away because of a nightmare and then comes back for the pokémon league five years later, seeking out Misty first. A few tough fights dig deep into their hearts, but
1. Meet Lupusa

Disclaimer: I do not own pokémon

Disclaimer: I do not own pokémon! They are copyrighted to Nintendo, Creatures Inc., Game Freak, WB for Kids, and whoever else I left out, please accept my apologies. I am just writing for fun not for profit like everyone else so don't sue me! Lupusa is mine and so is the plot for this fic.

Author's note: Words in 's and 's are pokémon speech translated. Words in *'s are thoughts, pokémon or human. *******'s in a row mean the point of view will change.

Friends to the End

By Ark9

Chapter One

Dreams unknown

Ash woke up with a start. It was pitch black outside where he lay. He was covered in sweat, yet, he didn't remember the concoction that had scared him so badly.

Ash: *But it's ok now.* 

He looked at Pikachu, who was curled up in a ball on his chest. Soon the sound of his peaceful breathing calmed him down and he fell back asleep.

Pikachu: CHU!!!

That same creature that had calmed him what seemed like moments before, now shocked him awake.

Ash: Quit it, Pi…ka…chu!!! (He said in between jolts of electricity.)

Pikachu: Pikachu (It smiled contently as its master sat up to a bright and sunny day.)

Ash: Hey, how are ya, buddy?

Pikachu: Pika! Great! (It smiled even more, if that was possible.)

Brock: You'd better come quick, Ash! Or else you won't get any breakfast!

Ash (shouting): Hey! (Ash shouted as he ran over. It was a well-known fact with them; he was **always** hungry.)

Misty: So Mr. I've-finally-become-a-pokémon-master finally decided to wake up. (Misty teased. Ash, wasn't really surprised. She was always finding ways to annoy him.)

Ash (slowly): Uh, ya… (He was thinking of the night before.)

Misty (taunting amusedly): Ash? Hello in there! (She waved her hand in front of his face.)

Ash: *For once, I wish that she would just leave me alone once in a while so that I can actually think of what a want to do. I still can' t figure out what happened in my dream but I know it was important…something to do with Pikachu…and some other pokémon…*

Misty (more than a little annoyed): Hey, Ash!

Ash: Oh, knock it off. (Ash said while pushing the thoughts of last night away and stuffing a pancake down his throat.)

Misty: Well, you're the one that started it.

Ash: Did not!

Misty: Did too!

Ash: Did not!

Misty: Did too!

Brock: All right, enough! Why don't you two just enjoy your food for once without fighting?!

Ash/Misty: NO!!! (Then they resumed the pointless argument.)

Brock: It's hopeless.

Pikachu (sighing one of those funny cloud things): Pikachu. You said it.

The "Joys" of Traveling

Brock: What are you arguing about anyway?

Misty/Ash: Uh…

Ash (with those closed "happy" eyes.): I forget!

After that comment, Brock and Pikachu fall over. Misty just teardrops because she doesn't really remember either.

Brock: Well, since none of us knows what you were arguing about before, let's stop arguing and get this show on the road!

Ash: Yeah! And when we get there, I'm going to challenge the gym-leader! I cant' wait! I'm gonna get another badge!

Misty (annoyed): There he goes again!

Brock: I think that we should get our pokémon healed first, Ash!

Misty: You just want to go there because you want to see the Nurse Joy in the center, Brock.

Brock (dreamily): Nurse Joy!

Ash: We're not there, yet, Brock! What is the name of this city, anyway?

Brock: Well, think about it, Ash. We just came from the Johto Stadium—

Ash: —and you have to admit it! I won! I finally won! I've finally become a pokémon master!

Misty: Bet Richie could still beat you, though!

Ash: Aw… you never give me a break. (Drops his head)

Brock: LISTEN TO ME!!!

Misty: What's up with him?

Ash: I don't know.

Brock: **That means stop talking!** (His head blows up really big. Ash and Misty get a really scared look on their faces and teardrop.) *clears his throat* As I was saying before…you should know where we are by now. We headed South to New Bark Town, then East as far as we were allowed to go, then North to the pokémon league, we traveled through the building and now we're heading Southeast…

Ash (teardrop): Um, Brock? Was I supposed to understand all of that? I mean, **where** are we going?

Misty: I think that Brock is trying to make us think that all of this zigzagging is actually getting us somewhere.

Brock (teardrop): Of course it is!

Misty: Hopeless!

Ash: I give up. Where are we going, Brock?

Misty: How dense are you?! He doesn't know!

Brock: Actually, we're almost there.

Misty: Stop pretending! We're lost again!

Brock: No we aren't!

Misty: Yes we are!

Brock: No we aren't!

Misty: Yes, we are!

Brock: No!

Misty: Yes!

(A/N: She sure likes to fight a lot, doesn't she? ^_^)

Ash: What's that ahead? (Points finger ahead of him.)

Pikachu (the nearly-forgotten pokémon): Pikachu, pi? I don't know, what?

Misty/ Brock (looking up): Huh?

Brock: We made it!

Brock's City

They all ran through the next few yards of trees.

Brock: Now we're back in—what?

Ash: Where are we?

Misty (slyly): Yea, Brock. Since you seem to know where we are, why not tell us?

Brock (sweat-drop): Um, I'd like to see if you guys could try and figure it out yourselves!

Misty: Well, it's not like Ash ever knows where we are and I give up, too. Where in the world do you think we are?!

Ash: Hey! I know most of the time.

Misty: Yea, like the no time when you aren't lost.

Ash: I'm not always lost!

Brock (interrupting): Are we ever going to go into it?

Misty: Where are we anyway?

Brock: Well we should be about at Pewter City; I was going to surprise both of you.

Misty: This sure isn't Pewter City!

Everyone looks around at the ropes connecting many of the buildings that are up in trees.

Ash: I wonder why the whole city is way up there?

Suddenly an eevee bounds up to them with its teeth revealed to a challenging gnarl. It is soon followed by its other five evolutions who surround them.

Misty: What do you think that they are doing? ("scaredly" hides behind Ash)

Brock: I don't know but it doesn't look good.

Pikachu: Pika! No! (It says jumping in front of Ash, Misty, and Brock.)

Girl voice: Wait!

Meet Lupusa

Suddenly a girl flips out of a neighboring tree, behind the pokémon. She had navy blue hair that was noticeably thick and fell just past her ears. She was surprisingly slightly shorter than Ash or Misty but looked older than either of them. She wore what looked like a tumbler's costume from the circus but the blues and black on it was too dark to really be that. Her eyes were a deep purple that seemed to capture the light and your thoughts as you looked at them. She was small but she looked tough and playful at the same time.

The three could only stare blankly for a few seconds at this unusual looking girl. Finally Brock made a mad dash but was cut short by a snap from Umbreon.

Brock (dreamily): Hi! My name is—(at that moment Umbreon snapped.)

Girl: Brock. Yes, I feared that you would find your way here…you and Ash and Misty should come with me.

Brock: How?…What—

Girl: …and my name is Lupusa Blanca.

Ash: *What a funny name.*

Misty: *She is such a show off.*

Lupusa glances in their direction and smiles, realizing that they are not going to voice their opinions.

Brock: How did you know our names? … and then what I was going to ask?

Lupusa (sweat-drop): Lucky guess…I guess.

Pikachu, meanwhile, had been talking to the Jolteon.

Pikachu: Pikapi! Ash!

Ash: What's wrong, Pikachu?

Pikachu: Pika pikachu! she's psychic!

Jolteon: *oops!*

Espeon: Esp espeon on. Now they won't leave.

Lupusa: Stop it, all of you! Umbreon, you can come here. The rest of you go back home.

They all yell their own name before running away, except for Umbreon, who comes up and sits by Lupusa.

Ash: I should have known!

Misty: Why would **you** have known?

Ash: Because Espeon is a psychic-type. She couldn't control it if she weren't psychic, too.

Brock: Sounds like you've been studying, Ash.

Misty: Yeah, right.

Ash: Dexter (AKA Pokédex) taught me that one.

Misty: Yea, Dexter and Sabrina who can completely cream you because she can use telekinesis.

Ash: Oh, yeah? Then how come I got a badge from her, huh?

Misty: That was just lucky for you that Haunter came to your rescue.

Ash: Pikachu and I could beat her any day!

Pikachu: Pika…pikachu… come on…stop…

Misty: Yeah, right! Kadabra almost wiped out Pikachu!

Pikachu: Pi…ka…chu!!! Stop it now! (Pikachu had, had enough and it decided to end it by thundershocking Ash and Misty. Where as they both get toasted and stop arguing or moving for that matter.)

Lupusa: Thanks, Pikachu.

Pikachu: Pikachu. You're welcome (Hand behind its head)


	2. Ash takes action

Disclaimer: I do not own pokémon

Disclaimer: I do not own pokémon! They are copyrighted to Nintendo, Creatures Inc., Game Freak, WB for Kids, and whoever else I left out, please accept my apologies. I am just writing for fun not for profit like everyone else so don't sue me! Lupusa is mine and so is the plot for this fic.

Author's note: Words in 's and 's are pokémon speech translated. Words in *'s are thoughts, pokémon or human. *******'s in a row mean the point of view will change.

Friends to the End

By Ark9

Chapter Two

The Tree City

Brock: How many people live in this tree city? What is it called anyway?

Lupusa: Oh, it doesn't have a name and I am the only one here. It really isn't a whole city, I guess. It is all just a mirage. My Espeon keeps it looking that way, but our home is really a while away.

Ash: But why make a fake city to attract people?

Lupusa: There are also people that are created in the houses. They aren't very nice and when confronted, release pokémon that can not be defeated because they aren't real. The people who come are scared away that way.

Misty: What's wrong with people coming?

Ash: Yea, why did you come out for us?

Lupusa: Well, most people just what to cut down the forest but they don't want to disturb the houses already built. That would just waste their money; so they try to reason with the people. Of course it never works. Espeon saw you first. Eevee is the youngest of my pokémon. It saw you and decided that it wanted to handle it. Then the other pokémon just wanted to defend Eevee. Right Umbreon?

Umbreon: Umber! Yea!

Lupusa: But Espeon could have stopped it if it thought that you were here to steal away the village. It was the one who first noticed how much you all care about your pokémon.

Misty: Oh.

Ash: Um, thanks for noticin'…

Pikachu: Pikachu!

Prepare for Trouble

*********************

Girl voice: I don't see them anywhere!

Boy voice: Me neither. They just seemed to disappear into the trees.

Pokémon (strangely in English): We're gonna have to land dis thing and travel on foot so dat we can see 'em.

Girl/Boy: Right!

**********************

They were all sitting around a table at Lupusa's house, eating dinner. Well, that's one way of putting the way that Ash, Misty, and Brock started to eat everything in sight.

They were actually almost finished with what was there was a dark smoke poured into the room.

Ash: *Not again.*

Girl: Prepare for Trouble

Boy: Make it Double.

Girl: To protect the world from devastation.

Boy: To unite all peoples within our nation.

Girl: To denounce the evils of truth and love.

Boy: To extend our reach to the stars above.

The girl and boy hop down from the windowsill and one by one take off their heavy robes to reveal themselves as…

Girl: Jesse!

Boy: James!

Jesse: Team Rocket Blast off at the speed of light.

James: Surrender now or prepare to fight!

Meowth: Meowth that's right!

Everyone else: It's team rocket!

Ash: You're not getting Pikachu! (He picked up his favorite pokémon after this statement.)

Jesse: That's what you think, twerp! Arbok go!

Arbok: Char!!!

Jesse: Grab that Pikachu!

Lupusa: Espeon!

Espeon: Esp?

Lupusa: Psychic-attack!

Espeon: Espeon!!!

Arbok was very weak against psychic attacks because of its poison-type so it fainted and was returned to its pokéball before Team Rocket was sent flying through the roof.

Team Rocket: Team Rocket's blasting off again!

A twinkle in the distance was seen as they flew away.

Misty: Wow! That was great, Lupusa!

Lupusa (feeling a little embarrassed): Espeon is the one who should get all of the credit. It is a kind pokémon and is getting strong, too.

Espeon: Esp! Thanks!

Battle of a Lifetime

Ash (no longer able to hold back the temptation): Lupusa! I challenge you to a pokémon match!

Brock: Ash! You don't just demand a match!

Lupusa: That's ok. Two-on-two, ok?

Ash: Fine with me!

Everyone goes outside, eager to see what will come of this match.

Ash: As my first pokémon I choose, Charizard!

Charizard: Char! (It yells, happy to be in battle again)

Lupusa: Then as my pokémon, I choose Umbreon.

Brock (to Ash): But dark-types are weak against fire? Why would she use that?

Ash: Charizard, use your fire blast!

Charizard: Char!!!

Umbreon proved to be a better match than first speculated. It was extremely fast and Charizard couldn't seem to catch it. Charizard was down to thirty HP and he had been using bide.

Ash: Release the energy, now!!!

Charizard unleashed the doubled energy in the only form he used, fire. Umbreon was caught off guard and was easily taken down.

Lupusa: Umbreon, return. Good job, Ash. You won the first round but watch out! This one's tough! Go, Espeon!

Espeon: Espeon! I'm coming!

Lupusa: Espeon, use your psybeam!

Espeon created a beam with his psychic energy, almost effortless. Charizard was too tired to avoid being hit. Soon it was down.

Ash: Charizard, return! *Misty is right. I can't beat a psychic! What should I do?* Pikachu.

Pikachu: Pika?

Ash: I'm giving you the choice. Do you still want to battle?

Pikachu: **Piii**kachu!

Ash: Okay! Pikachu, give it all you've got! Agility!

Pikachu looked like a little yellow blur as he ran around the grass.

Lupusa: Espeon, use your psychic attack.

Espeon tried to lift the Pikachu to slam him on the ground but as it tried, it realized that it didn't know exactly where Pikachu was, it was too fast. Since it couldn't locate it, it's attacks all missed.

Ash: Good job, Pikachu. Now use your Thunder attack.

Lupusa: Espeon, as soon as Pikachu stops to prepare for his attack, use your psychic attack.

Pikachu amazed Lupusa by building energy while it ran but then it jumped unto Espeon and delivered its Thunder attack. Espeon was fading. It had always changed the flow of electricity so that it didn't ever hit it before so had never felt this kind of pain. But it couldn't let Lupusa down. With its last bit of energy, it pulled Pikachu away from itself and sent it slamming into a tree.

Ash: Pikachu!!!

Ash ran and picked up Pikachu. Are you ok, buddy?

Pikachu: Pikapi. I think so.

Ash: You win.

Espeon collapsed as soon as he said that.

Dreams Are Hard to Reach

Lupusa: You put up a good fight. I don't think I've battled anyone who was able to even hurt my Espeon at all since it learned psychic, two years ago. All four of our pokémon fainted, you know.

Ash: Yea. We'll keep getting stronger and some day I'll come back for a rematch. Right, Pikachu?

Pikachu (happily): Pikachu!

Misty: Good Job, Ash.

Brock: Yea, I've never seen Pikachu move so quickly!

Lupusa: It's getting dark. We should go inside.

Everyone was soon inside and asleep. Everyone, that is, except for Ash. He was afraid to fall asleep because he was scared. Scared of what he didn't know. Scared that somehow, this dream was going to happen. He finally fell into an uneasy sleep.

**********************

It was 2:00 in the morning. Ash looked at Pikachu and tried to fall back asleep, but it was impossible. Then he started to remember what had happened he couldn't bear it. He was out somewhere in the ice. It was white everywhere. Four of his pokémon were with him in their pokéballs but Pikachu was missing. Somehow he felt a very sad because Charizard wasn't there, but that it was in that Charific Valley place again. No one else was there and somehow he knew that Brock was in Pewter, where they had tried to go recently. Tracey was their other traveling buddy, but he knew inside that he was safe too. But somehow he knew that his two best friends were gone and he knew that he was to blame. Later he might learn more but now all he knew was that they were gone…Misty…and Pikachu.

Finally, he decided what he would do. He left a note on the table where they had eaten dinner. Then he cradled the still-sleeping Pikachu in his arms as he left into the night. Charizard hadn't had long enough to help them, he knew that. Then he decided to take out his other option, besides Charizard or Pikachu. 

Ash (calling quietly): Bulbasaur come on out.

Bulbasaur: Bulba? What's wrong?

Ash: It's the dream. It happened again.

Bulbasaur: Bulbasaur bulba? What are we doing now?

Ash: I need you to use that bulb of yours like a flashlight so that we can see to get back to Pallet. (grins) Regardless of what Misty says, I do almost always know where I am. (serious again) Can you lead us that way?

Bulbasaur: Bulba! Gladly! Bulba bulbasaur? Where is everyone else?

Ash: They are not coming. They…don't know we're leaving either.

Bulbasaur: Bulbasaur? Where are we going?

Ash: On a great big adventure.

Bulbasaur: Bulba? Where to?

Ash: Some islands that are by the Orange Islands. They have boats that go there, though.

Bulbasaur: Bulba. okay.

Pikachu (waking up): Pikachu? Where am I?

Bulbasaur: Bulbasaur, saur. On a great big adventure.

When the morning comes

In the morning, Lupusa is the first one up and starts making breakfast. She cooked it and was setting the table when she noticed a new piece of paper. It was from Ash.

Lupusa (yelling through the house): Wake up, everyone! Ash is gone! He left a note, though.

Misty: What?

Brock: No way! He wouldn't leave without us!

Misty: Can we see the note?

Brock read it out-loud:

_Dear Friends,_

I thank you all for your help as I travel through the pokémon leagues. I am sorry to say that I have left on a journey of my own. If you all are right, then I will get no where and stay lost in these woods forever. I don't think that is the case, though. I will find my way to a new league that I found recently.

I hope that everyone makes it home safely as I have been warned that I will cause someone not to be so lucky. I hope I am wrong, though. At any rate, for the safety of everyone, I have gone. I hope that someday I can return and know that everyone will be all right, but until then I'll stay hidden as well as possible.

If Espeon can find me, then I guess I won't have anywhere to hide but I don't think even it can stop fate. If this is just some wild dream that has no chance of happening, I apologize and I'll see you again some day but I couldn't stand losing any of you.

Thank you once again for your support through everything.

~Ash

Brock just about broke down as he finished reading the sad letter.

Misty: We've got to do something.

Brock: We can't do anything. Ash is gone. Just to go home and hope for the best.

Lupusa (whispering as she understands everything): It won't help, Ash.

Misty: What did you say?

Lupusa: What? Oh, nothing. If Ash tries to come back there is going to be no stopping him, though.

The other two trainers look at each other confusedly as the picture fades out.


	3. Reunited?

Disclaimer: I do not own pokémon

Disclaimer: I do not own pokémon! They are copyrighted to Nintendo, Creatures Inc., Game Freak, WB for Kids, and whoever else I left out, please accept my apologies. I am just writing for fun not for profit like everyone else so don't sue me! Lupusa is mine and so is the plot for this fic.

Author's note: Words in 's and 's are pokémon speech translated. Words in *'s are thoughts, pokémon or human. *****'s in a row mean that I'm changing the point of view. 

Friends to the End

By Ark9

Chapter Three

Prologue

As you know, Ash is still going around and getting more badges and Brock and Misty are at their gyms. However, as this starts, Ash has finally gotten the address of the Cerulean Gym and has decided to at least be pen pals with his long-time friend. Brock is, uh, still hanging around Pewter City but the pokémon center is having trouble so pokémon can't deliver mail there at the moment. Yeah, that's right…

Anyway! It is six years later so Ash, Richy, and Gary are 18. Misty is 19. Lupusa is 20. Brock is 21. The Joys and Jennys are about 22, though we don't really know their ages. We don't really know Mandy's, Tad's or Jennifer's age either so they are also 21, like Brock. Jesse and James are 22.

Letters

Dear Misty,

Sorry I haven't written back for so long. I was training my pokémon on Palm Islands. They don't have a pokémon center there or a gym but it was good to get in the training.

Now I'm on another Island right next to it. It does have a pokémon center, a pokémart, and a gym. Tomorrow, I am going to try for the Coco Badge, if my pokémon are healed in time.

Pikachu and the others have come a long way since you have seen them. Bulbasaur still doesn't want to evolve, nor does Pikachu. Squirtle saw a big blastoise the other day and decided that it was ready to evolve. Now it's a wartortle, but I think that it will evolve again soon because it already is at a high enough level to be a blastoise.

How is Kingler? Have you heard from Brock?

Your pal,

Ash

Dear Ash,

Brock is back in Pewter City. He said he's got himself a girlfriend there. If it's a Nurse Joy or Officer Jenny then I'm going to go crazy!

Kingler's doing great! It loves being able to be around water so much. My magikarp still has not evolved. That's okay, though.

My sisters are driving me crazy! I'm stuck with all of the paperwork because they are too worried about getting a papercut or breaking a nail.

Recently, they found another group of triplets. They are boys, though, and they are even worse then my sisters. They won't leave me alone! Unfortunately, there isn't a whole low that I can do about it because they are older and bigger than I am. I've just been hiding out in this office. That seems to be working out fine so far but they want me to do that stupid underwater show again!

Your friend,

Misty

Dear Misty,

That's terrible! It sounds like you need a vacation bad. Anyway, the Pokémon League competition is coming up. Why don't you come to it with me? Actually, if you don't, then I will come and carry you there myself!

In the meantime, I caught something for you that I think you might like. It is a tough battler, though, and if it thinks that you look like food as much as it thought that I did, then I would advise keeping it inside its pokéball.

You can pick it up at the pokémon center there. I got it transported so it probably arrived a few days before this letter did. I hope it likes you! If it does then you should have a good weapon to keep everyone away!

Your Friend,

Ash

Dear Ash,

THANK YOU!!! Gyridos is great! I don't see what's wrong with it, though. It seems to like the water but it is still getting used to being around people. It was almost as stubborn as Pikachu about being in a pokéball. It doesn't having any problem with them now, but I think that is because it wants to get away from those idiots voltorbs that are always threatening to blow up everything.

I tried to get my sisters to let me go but they can't do the paper work because they don't know how. Plus, if they were left to run it like before, then they would just run their water shows and forget about battles. Then getting a badge from the Cerulean gym would be a joke. I can't let that happen, can I? I guess if they want to waste their reputation, they can but I can't go. Good luck, in the Pokémon League, anyway!

Your friend,

Misty

The decision

"Your pokémon are healed!" Nurse Joy called.

"Alright!" Ash exclaimed, "I'm glad your back, Pikachu!"

"Pika!" Me too!

"You have a letter, Ash," Nurse Joy said.

"Thanks!" Ash exclaimed happily. "I choose everybody!" he yelled, releasing all of his current team of pokémon out of their pokéballs. "Are you all ready for the pokémon league?"

All of Ash's pokémon chorused back yelling their name in an excited and threatening tone.

"Good" Ash said. "First you all can have a break and play outside before we go! Race ya!" Ash sprinted out of the door and was soon followed by all of his pokémon, besides Snorlax, who couldn't fit through the door and had to be recalled. (Sweat-drop) "Maybe I should take someone else instead.* 

All of the rest of his pokémon ran around outside, fresh from their treatment. Pikachu soon ran over to Ash and hopped on his shoulder.

"Pikachu!" Misty finally wrote back!

"Yeah." Ash opened the letter and read it. (It's the last one from the previous part)

"Pi?! (What?!)"

"Well, Pikachu. It looks like we are going to be making a quick stop on our way to the pokémon league!" He smiled at his favorite pokémon.

"Pika!" (Yep!)

*************

Misty sat up in her office, thinking to herself. *I hope I made the right choice.* She looked through the letters from Ash. *I wonder what he'll do if he sees that I can't come…or if he still is worried about hurting one of us. He hasn't mentioned anything about it but you never know…*

*************

"Okay!" Ash yelled. He was back inside the pokémon center and all of his pokémon besides Pikachu were now napping inside their pokéballs. He held up the pokéball that he had just received. "We've got Tauros, now let's go get Misty!"

"Pika!" (Yeah)

"Charizard, I choose you!" Ash called out as he again released Charizard, who looked like he was still trying to take a nap. "Charizard, I need you to take us to Misty and then to the pokémon league. Are you up to it?"

"BAZORRRR!!!" It turned around and crouched on all fours so that Ash could get on.

"Thanks!" He and Pikachu jumped on his back. Ash hung on to Charizard's neck to stay on and Pikachu tightened his grip on Ash's collar as they took off. Soon they were sailing over Fushia City and he could see the blue glow of Saffron in the distance.

Comin' to the Rescue!

Daisy was checking the chemicals in the pool when someone walked in the gym door and down the passageway. She waited until they entered the water arena to ask them what they were doing here.

But the person who came in looked vaguely familiar. He was tall and had on worn jeans—probably from pokémon training—and a dark green T-shirt. His pokémon league hat covered most of his messy black hair. The bright green backpack had an extra pouch at the bottom that was obviously made for badges and whatever identification the trainer owned.

"Are you here for a gym match?" Daisy asked warily.

"No." He answered looking around. She sighed a sigh of relief when he said that because she wouldn't have to go through the misery of losing again. But her chain of thought was broken when he spoke again. "Where is Misty?"

Now she found a new reason to be nervous. "She's upstairs in her office. It's the first one on the right. I wouldn't want to go up there myself and if you are here because of some business work, be sure and cover your ears before she yells your head off." She smirked when she said the last comment. "Of course, that's only if you get past the barricade that she's locked herself in."

*That sounds like the old Misty.* Ash thought. He was still slightly taken back by the fact that she wasn't only hiding in the office, but she had actually locked herself in. He decided to let Charizard come out and help out. Charizard carried him and Pikachu up the stairs and over a chain fence before finding every one of Misty's pokémon standing in front of them, obviously guarding her office from all other people.

"Pika! Pikachu!" We're friends! Let us see Misty!

Horsea, Goldeen, and all of the pokémon that used to travel with Ash and Misty, including Psyduck, got out of the way. That still left Gyridos.

"Gyrrrrrr DOOOOOOS!!!! (Misty COME HERE!!!)

Ash was surprised a little bit by its reaction. He half-expected it to lunge forward and attack him without warning, but here it was waiting until Misty came. He was glad about that, but what if Misty decided just to let this one get what they deserved. He didn't know if he deserved to get eaten by a Gyridos or not, so he yelled, "Misty! It's me, Ash! Come quick before this thing decides I'm on its lunch menu!"

Suddenly, Misty popped out from behind the door. "Gyridos, return!"

Ash looked at the girl who now held Gyridos's pokéball. *Could that really be Misty?* he wondered to himself. She was a little bit taller, though, he noticed that he was taller than her by a few inches now. She had gotten rid of her ponytail that used to sprout out of the side of her head, and her hair now reached the middle of her back. She wore a pale blue spaghetti strap shirt and blue jeans. He had always thought that she looked pretty when she wore her hair down but he never imagined that their "scrawny runt" would turn out like this. Then he realized that he was staring and he looked away before she realized, and talked to Pikachu about what to do next.

*************A little earlier*************

*I hate these papers!* Misty thought to herself as she leafed through everything on her desk. Just then, the gym door opened. A little bit later, she could hear her sister talking to someone. It was obviously a boy, judging by their voice, probably her boyfriend. But she wasn't getting all giddy like she did around her boyfriend, and they just asked about her! *Why would they want me? It couldn't be Ash because he should be heading up to the pokémon league. Actually, his mom had called yesterday saying that he was heading out sometime today and asked if I wanted to come to watch…that means that it is probably some bill that we owe. I better get our bank statements out before they get there. My pokémon should surprise them. Wait a minute! Why aren't they attacking?*

"Gyrrrrrr DOOOOOOS!!!"

"Misty! It's me Ash! Come quick before this thing decides that I'm on its lunch menu!"

Hurriedly, I opened the door to recall Gyridos. I held out its pokéball and yelled, "Gyridos return!" Then, I looked at him. Ash. He was talking quietly to Pikachu and all of my pokémon aren't sure whom to greet first: their trainer or the trainer whom they hadn't seen for years. I recalled them because I didn't want them to hear the conversation, even though I know that they can hear just as well from inside their pokéballs. *Ash looked about the same: messy black hair, pokémon league hat, jeans and a T-shirt. The only different was that the T-shirt was dark green instead of black and he had gotten rid of his old jacket. (I bet he only wore it in the first place because of his mom worrying about him being cold camping outside.) He also added something to his backpack to make up for it, since he had always used it for his badges and to keep his pokédex in an easy-to-get-to spot. I wonder what he's doing here.*

"Ash, you know that I can't go. Why did you come here?" Misty ventured.

Ash took a few steps closer. "Because I thought maybe I could convince you to change your mind."

"No way, Ash Ketchum. It's not gonna happen."

"We'll see," he said. He was standing only a foot away now. He looked down into her eyes and asked, "Why can't you come?"

I was surprised. This was Ash, here. I thought that he would march in and demand me to come and that was it. I didn't honestly think that he would try to negotiate at all. Then again, he probably would only accept one answer: yes.

"Because I have to be here and work."

"Why can't you take a break for a week or so?"

Now Misty stumbled to answer that one. "I…um…am behind already and need to catch up. It wouldn't help the gym any if the water company decided to stop letting us have any water, would it?"

At this Ash smirked. "Not one bit. But do you know what? They have to let you have water and if you seriously can't pay it then the pokémon league will help you out. Any more excuses?

"I can't go, Ash. I'm sorry."

"…and everyone thought _I_ was stubborn…"

I frowned and then looked at the ceiling as if it held the magical answer to all of my troubles. Suddenly, I realized one more thing about Ash that I had overlooked: he never gave up.

I felt a feeling that I had never felt since I was little. It was a feeling of glee as dad had sneaked up on me and suddenly out of nowhere, I would be up in the air. In my excitement I grabbed him around his neck, half expecting to see my dad there, even though I hadn't seen him since I was six.

"If this is how we go, then this is how we go. Alright everybody, let's go!" Ash piped up. "I told you that you'd come."

"Ash!" I screamed. "Are you insane!"

*************

"Pika pikachu!" Nope, just in love!

"Pikachu!" I said in a commanding tone. I was just glad that Misty had been away from Pikachu long enough not to understand him. I held on to her tight as I made my way through the door. She was still trying very hard to break free. Did that make it wrong? Did she really not want to go? I wouldn't want to believe that. Had this happened under different circumstances, I would have been embarrassed, but at least I had a reasonable excuse.

"I thought you looked familiar!" Daisy said, appearing from downstairs. "Everyone attack with full force on the one who is hurting Misty!" All of her pokémon jumped forwards and prepared to let loose their hydro pumps.

"You know what to do, right Pikachu?"

"Pika" it nodded in agreement. Soon sparks were flying from its cheeks. "PiiikaaaCHUUUUUUU!!!" it yelled as it let loose enough electricity to faint all six of her pokémon and make her skin turn black for a second.

"I'll get you for this!" she shouted as she ran back downstairs to get her other two sisters.

Misty, meanwhile, wriggled down and stood up and ran under her desk. She curled into a ball so that I couldn't pick her up if I tried.

"Aww, come on Mist. Don't make me do this. I really don't want to hurt you."

This time, she was the one who smirked. "You better not try to hurt me. You'll get a nasty bout with Gyridos if you do."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Will Gyridos get its revenge?

What will Ash do?

Will you ever find out?

Only if you review!


	4. Getting ready for the League

Disclaimer: I do not own pokémon

Disclaimer: I do not own pokémon! They are copyrighted to Nintendo, Creatures Inc., Game Freak, WB for Kids, and whoever else I left out, please accept my apologies. I am just writing for fun not for profit like everyone else so don't sue me! Lupusa is mine and so is the plot for this fic.

Author's note: Words in 's and 's are pokémon speech translated. Words in *'s are thoughts, pokémon or human. *****'s in a row mean that I'm changing the point of view. (This is corny. Sorry about that.)

Notes to BenRG: 

Misty's reasons:

  1. She's worried about the gym, yadda, yadda, I've already told you that a few times.
  2. She thinks that if she goes, Ash will find out that she likes him, he won't like her back, and then they'll both be miserable and uneasy around each other. I'm sure you've all heard that a few million times, too.
  3. Errr…She also feels threatened by someone (actually a few people) in particular. Maybe you know who, but otherwise you'll learn when I make it obvious muuuch later! Bwahahahahahaha!

If you didn't catch Ash's dream, go back to the 2nd part, when Ash wakes up before he leaves…all he remembers is the picture and his feelings at the end. Is there any significance other than running away? You'll find that out quite a while later, too.

Friends to the End

By Ark9

Chapter Four

I had enough. I could already hear footstep coming up the stairs, and Daisy's angry cries followed by Lilly and Violet's reassuring words that they would get revenge. I couldn't let Misty try Gyridos, either. I only had one option, and I hated it.

I called out Bulbasaur, the one who never stalled or refused to attack without a reason. "Please help me, Bulbasaur. There's no other way." I said glumly.

"Bulb-a," it nodded with a sad expression. 'Sorry,' it had said. What I was doing could almost break my heart. I hoped that I could set it right, later. But it was the only option she had left. 

Soon Bulbasaur's sleep powder took effect and the Misty-ball relaxed. I pulled her out and then set her on Charizard. I then sat down behind her and Pikachu hopped on my shoulder. I could hear Daisy and the others complaining about the fence outside.

Charizard grabbed her suitcase and prepared to try to fly out of the giant window. "All set, Charizard. Let's go!" Soon we were above the land again, watching for the purple hue that surrounded the Indigo Plateau.

*************

The Path to the Pokémon League

*Where am I?* I thought as I opened my eyes and looked at the red surface that I was riding on. Then I remembered. *Ash had said he would find a way to carry me there no matter what. I guess he succeeded. I kind of hoped that he would. But I never dreamed that he'd do this. I can feel Ash holding me on his Charizard. I can see his hands holding on to Charizard to keep both of us from falling. Maybe I am dreaming after all.

"Charizard, you're doing great!" That was definitely Ash. It doesn't feel like a dream, anyway. "How much farther do we have to go?"

"Bah… Baaazzorzor!"

"Pikapika!" I think she's waking up. *Pikachu I can understand. I wonder what Charizard said. It definitely should know that I'm awake. Maybe I'm just dreaming what I want to happen.* I snuggled against Ash. He knows that I'm awake now, anyway.

"I guess you're right, Pikachu," he said with a chuckle.

"What do you think you are doing?" I yelled at him. I could see him pull away because of that. *What if he loses his balance?*

Ash did lose his balance, but Charizard realized that and started to fly down. When we were only a few feet above the ground, he rolled off into the grass. Charizard landed right beside him and I got off and looked around.

"Charizard, return!" Ash called gloomily. "You could be a little bit more cheery about it. I told you I would get you, and I did. You can go back, I guess. Not like I could do that forever, anyway. It's that way." He pointed back the way they came. He sat up and hugged his knees. * Now she probably hates me.* Ash thought as he stared at his shoes after he recalled Charizard.

"That's ok." I said as I walked over to him. *I had planned to sneak out last night anyway, but those stupid boys were over too long. When they left, it was too dark since there was no moon.*

"I didn't want to—" Ash started to mumble but I cut him off.

"Don't worry about it," I said as I lifted his chin with her finger. *What am I doing? He's got to have realized by now, after everything that I've done. No, Ash was always too dense. He looks like he is about ready to cry. Could he really care? I wish he did but now I've got to sort out how we are going to get there.* "I'm sorry I yelled. You just surprised me a little bit. Now, how are we going to get to Indigo Plateau?"

"Are you sure you want to go?" He actually sounded worried.

"You bet. It's too dark to walk back, now. But who wants to work on papers anyway?"

*His face brightened after that. For once, I think that I said something right.* "I think that I have an idea. Bulbasaur, Tauros, I choose you!" He steadied the bull pokémon before he jumped on. "Come on Misty. Hop on!"

*Great. Now he wants me to ride again. Oh, well. This time maybe I can enjoy myself. I hopped on Tauros behind Ash. This was going to be fun.* "Ash, what about my suitcase?"

He smirked. "Thought I'd forget it, huh? Bulbasaur's got it." I looked behind and saw, sure enough, Bulbasaur was marching proudly behind us carrying my suitcase with its vines. I held on to Ash as we started going.

We rode all the way to the hotel where we were staying. Ash recalled Bulbasaur and Tauros and I carried my suitcase as we walked in.

*************

The Hotel

"Hello. My name is Victoria," the woman at the counter of the hotel said. "I am the hotel manage. If you have any problems, contact me and I'll try to help. Just make sure that you follow the directions on the inside of your door," she said as she handed Misty and Ash, each a key.

"Thanks! (Pika!)" they all shouted as they bolted down the hallway and up the stairs. Soon they found their rooms. They were one-person rooms and a door on each of their sides connected them. You could only get from one of the rooms to the other through that way if both of the doors were unlocked. At the moment, they were locked, though.

Misty turned around and looked at the rules. After reading them, she said, "Oh, so what? They're just the rules that all hotels have." She thought out loud, "I wonder when Ash is supposed to be registered by. I'm sure it's sometime tomorrow morning. That's only if we haven't missed it altogether."

*************

"This is great, Pikachu!" Ash exclaimed, plopping down on a bed in front of the TV.

"Pikachu!" You said it.

*knock!* *knock!* 

"Who could that be?" Ash wondered, opening the hallway door. "No one here, Pikachu. That's strange."

Pikachu fell over in stupidity. "Pika, pikachu!" No, other door!

"Huh? Ok…" Ash went over and opened the other door.

"Oh, hi Misty."

"Uh…Hi? I was just thinking, when do you need to be registered by?" Misty asked, feeling a little stupid.

"Three days from today," Ash answered, and then went and sat down on his bed."

"Three days?! Are we that early?"

"Yep. I was going to see if I could find out some information on the other trainers in the next few days after some of the other trainers have registered. Not all of the trainers will be up, but I can't look at them all at once, anyway," Ash stated.

Misty had been standing there with a surprised look on her face ever since he said that they would be there for three days. *He really has changed. Three whole days…probably just to sit in front of the computer, though.*

"Don't look so surprised!" Ash laughed. "Did you expect to arrive that late?"

"Actually, yeah," Misty answered, having shaken off the shock. "Last time, we came on the last day you could register."

"Misty! That was eight years ago!"

"You're right," she said, a little reluctantly. She never thought that _Ash_ would be right when she was wrong. She went over and sat on the bed next to him. "What do you want to do tomorrow?"

"I don't know."

"Do you want to go swimming and let our pokémon play? Mine really could use a break." She nudged him in the ribs to get him to respond.

"Ok," Ash said, obviously only really paying attention to the TV.

"Well, goodnight Ash! Goodnight, Pikachu!" Misty said as she walked out and stood by the door.

"Goodnight, Misty!"

"Pikachu!"

Misty went out the door and Ash turned off the TV after a few minutes. He started staring at the door, just thinking before he went to sleep.

"Pikachu pika pikachu?" Do you want to go to sleep now?

"Sure, why not."

"Pika pi pika chu chu pi." You really like her, don't you?

"Hmm?" Ash suddenly felt uneasy as he realized what Pikachu asked. "What gave you that idea?"

"Chu pi!" Don't you! Pikachu persisted.

"Maybe a little bit…"

"Chu pikachu." You should tell her!

"I…I can't. What if I messed up? She'd hate me forever. I don't want to risk that. Besides, who wants to be Gyridos food?"

"Pikachu pika pika pi chu chu!" You messed up today and she doesn't hate you!

"Yeah, but I think that she actually wanted to come. She didn't punch me in the head or anything when I asked. I don't think that she liked how I did it, but she didn't leave any choice on that."

"Pikachu." You'd be surprised.

"What do you mean? Do you think that she really did want to stay back at her gym?"

"Chaaa!" Nooo! Pikachu fell over again. "Pikachu, Pikapi." She likes you, Ash.

"Do you really think so?"

"Pikachu!" Pikachu smiled.

"All right. Thanks for the support. Let's go to sleep now. I'm exhausted."

"Pika." Ok.

*************The Next Morning*************

Misty, as usual, woke up much sooner than everyone else. She decided to go to the pokémon center to get her pokémon healed before they went to the pool. *It's going to be so much fun!*

Misty hurried off to the pokémon center.

"Want to get here before the crowd, right?" Nurse Joy asked.

"Ya. I compete in the league, though."

"Ok. Your pokémon don't look too worn out. It'll just be a few minutes before they're ready."

"Great!" Misty answered going to the phone. "Hey, Professor Oak!"

"Hi, Misty! What's new? Where's Ash?"

"Ash was still asleep, the last time I saw him. How's my Togepi?"

"It's doing fine. It's an interesting specimen. So far I've learned a lot about its attacks (It has three. Did you know that? Reflect, teleport, and metronome.), it doesn't seem to eat much, but it does seem to like pokémon, especially electric ones. I guess Pikachu had some effect on it because everything that I've read says that electric-types and other normal-types tend to dislike it. Oh, well. It also…"

"Err…that's nice Professor. How about you tell me about that later? Is it having a good time?"

"Oh? Yes! Yes, it's a happy little thing!"

"Togi togi togi prrrrrriiiii!" can be heard from the background.

"Togepi? Hey, do you want to take it with you, Misty? It could use a change in environment while I analyze the data I've already collected."

"Yea! That's a great idea! Send it right away!"

"Here it comes," Professor Oak said as he sent Togepi through the transportation machine.

"Thanks, Professor!"

"No problem. Bye now!"

"Bye!" Misty hung up the phone and picked up Togepi's pokéball.

"Come on out Togepi!"

"Prrrriiiiiii!"

"Great! Now I just need to get my other pokémon and head back to the hotel."

"Here they are, Misty," Nurse Joy called from behind the counter. In front of her was a tray with five pokéballs.

"Thanks!" Misty exclaimed fastening them back on her belt.

"Hey, you're Misty, right?" A girl called from across the pokémon center.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Whatcha think? I, um, read Orla and Jaelle's fic. (That is part of the reason this took so long to come out) Didn't realize that this was so close to another one. Oh, well. There are a few things that are similar in the last part but they were unintended, considering I hadn't read it before. I'm not changing it much, 'cause I don't want to and don't have the time, but other than the vicious Gyridos, the rest shouldn't seem the same. ^_^


	5. 

Disclaimer: I do not own pokémon

Disclaimer: Do I have to write one of these for every chapter? I don't own pokémon and I probably never will. So don't sue me! The only things I come close to owning are the characters for Lupusa and Casey, and the plot for this fic. So don't take them! …or I will send a flaming growlithe after you! 

Author's note: Words in 's and 's are pokémon speech translated. Words in *'s are thoughts, pokémon or human. *****'s in a row mean that I'm changing the point of view.

Friends to the End

By Ark9

Chapter Five

Misty turned around. She looked at the girl. She was a taller than Misty few quite a few inches, and had straight, blond hair. Misty thought that she reminded her of her sister, Daisy, because of that. She wore blue jeans and a yellow T-shirt. Daisy wouldn't have thought that was appropriate for girls, but Misty never thought that they had the style that they thought they had. Only one question was really bugging her though: how did she know her name?

"Y-ya. B-but, how did you know who I am?" Misty asked warily, and took a step back.

The girl walked across the center. "I'm sorry. I didn't introduce myself!" she said menacingly. "My name is Casey." She held out her hand.

Misty relaxed a little bit as she shook her hand. "Hi, Casey. Are you a competitor here?"

"Nope! Just came to watch Brock try," she said with a laugh. "I guess he didn't tell you? I am his girlfriend."

"What?!" Misty yelled. "Brock?" she said in disbelief.

"You got it! He told me about how you and him used to travel with Ash around on Ash's journey," she paused. "Personally, I have my own theory about why everyone stayed together for so long!"

Misty waited uneasily to see if she was going to add yet another person to the I- know-you-like-Ash list.

"Too bad Ash will never say anything to Pikachu!"

"What? But Pikachu has always been like Ash's brother, and besides! Pikachu's a boy!" (AN: If you think Pikachu's a girl, sorry. I think that he is definitely a boy, 'cause he wore a tuxedo a couple of times and also on the "Pikachu's Jukebox" thing, so don't bug me about it!)

"So what if Pikachu's a boy? That doesn't matter," she said and waited for Misty's answer.

"Ash is not gay!" Misty shouted defensively. "and if you think that Pikachu is gay, then you better watch out!"

"Watch out for what?" she questioned.

"Pikachu pika!" Pikachu shouted, running in the door ahead of Ash. It came in, in time to hear her comment, and let's just say it wasn't too happy about it.

"What's a little rat going to do?" she asked it.

"Wait!" Nurse Joy shouted and ran from the other side of the pokémon center. "This is a pokémon hospital. Please! Have some respect for the pokémon here and battle outside if you need to."

"Well, Pikachu and I were just coming so that you could make sure that he didn't have any problems," Ash said honestly, and then lowered his eyes. "We didn't know someone would choose to act like a moron and make Pikachu mad."

Casey started laughing uncontrollably. "It's love, I tell you! Too bad you are both in denial! Ha, ha, ha…I'm going to go find Brock, now!" She continued laughing as she skipped around the buildings asking for Brock.

Ash sweat-dropped. "That was weird."

"Pika pika," it agreed, as it sweat-dropped and scratched its head.

"Ash, your Pikachu looks perfectly healthy," Nurse Joy said, happily. "Here you go!" she said and handed Pikachu an apple for letting her give it a check-up.

"Cha!" it said excitedly and started munching on the apple.

"Well, that's a relief," Ash said and picked Pikachu up. "No problems, huh?"

"Pikachu!" it said in its still-over-excited tone.

"You guys ready to go swim?" Misty asked.

"Are you ready Pikachu?" Ash asked.

"Pika!" Yea!

"Then let's go!" Ash yelled and ran outside towards the pool with Pikachu on his hat, once again.

"Wait up!" Misty called, chasing after him.

The Pool

"Pikachu, I just can't go in there. I forgot about Gyridos. I don't want Misty to see what it did before…and what if it tries again?" Ash asked with a confused look on his face.

"Pikachu pika." It'll be fine.

"I don't know, Pikachu. I just hope that you are right." Ash said nervously, as he walked out of the locker room. "I choose everybody!" he yelled, releasing all of his pokémon.

"So you finally made it," Misty said. I just have one more pokémon to let out."

"Gggoooorrrr!" the pokémon (you guessed it), Gyridos cried.

"Help!" Ash yelled. "Misty, stop this thing before it eats me alive!" Ash ran around the pool, certain of his horrible fate. He was at the far end of the pool before, but now he was running back towards the way Gyridos had come, hoping to make it spin out. Unfortunately, that meant running towards Misty.

"Gyridos, return," Misty said sadly. "I'm sorry, but I can't have you attacking Ash. I don't know what you have against him, but he is a friend."

"Thanks," Ash said, clearly out of breath.

"Come on!" Misty yelled, diving into the water.

"Alright," Ash yelled excitedly, hoping that she couldn't see under the water very well.

"Come over here!" Misty called from the shallow end of the pool.

Ash's face turned white. What could he do? He swam over anyway, wondering if he looked like anything was wrong with him.

"…you wanna race?" she asked.

"Uh…" Ash tried to think of what to say, silently relieved.

"Whoa! What happened Ash? Did Gyridos do that?" Misty asked, looking at the two jagged scars across his chest and back.

Ash swallowed hard. "Ya," he said finally. "I told you before, I think that he wants to eat me."

"You shouldn't have tried to catch it, Ash!" Misty yelled. "It was too dangerous. Even pokémon masters have limits!"

"I-I-I…I knew you would…I give up!" Ash stammered, fighting back tears. "I'm sorry. No one deserves to have to be around someone like me. Sorry about everything." Ash climbed out of the pool and started to run away. "Bye Misty!" Soon he disappeared into the locker room again.

*I can't believe it.* Misty thought. *He did that for me?* "Pikachu, will you come here for a second?"

"Pikachu?" What happened?

"Pikachu? Do you thank…do you think Ash would really do that…" Misty struggled with what she wanted to say, "…for me?"

"Pikachu!" Did he ever!

"Oh," Misty thought about what she should do for a minute. "Pikachu? Could you do something for me?"

"Pika?" Like what?

"Could you tell Ash that I'm not mad at him?"

"Pikachu." I'll try. Pikachu scampered off and returned shortly, with a sad look on its face. It carried a small piece of paper in its mouth and six pokéballs in its arms as it ran towards Misty.

"Can I read it, Pikachu?"

"Pika. Pikachupi." Yes, he actually wrote it for you.

Misty read it out loud, "Dear Misty. I'm sorry about what happened. I didn't think until it was too late. Sorry about being stupid. If you would give my pokémon to Pikachu, then it should be able to find me. Your (former) pal, Ash.

"Pikachu, this is terrible. How could I be so careless?" Misty asked herself as she recalled her pokémon and Pikachu recalled Ash's pokémon. "Do you know where he is Pikachu?"

"Pi-kaaa." I think so.

After dropping off her pokémon (including Togepi) back off in her room, Misty and Pikachu went outside to look for Ash.

Break up?

Soon Pikachu lead them to a river. As predicted, there sat Ash, his back to them and his face buried in his hands, in between his knees.

"I'll settle this, Pikachu," Misty whispered, taking his pokéballs and walking up to Ash. *He doesn't even know that I'm here.* "Ash?" Misty said quietly sitting down beside him. "I have your pokémon."

"Thanks," he said, taking the pokéballs and looking back at the river. *She'll probably leave forever, now, and I wouldn't blame her.*

Misty wrapped her arm around his shoulder. "Look, Ash. I'm sorry about reacting that way. It wasn't very nice and was kind of thoughtless of me, but you can't pout around here forever."

"But you said—"

"Forget what I said!" Misty snapped. "Does it take Gyridos to make you believe me?"

A sudden look of terror came into Ash's eyes before he realized that she was joking.

"I'm sorry. I didn't even bring Gyridos. Won't you come back to the hotel anyway?"

"Ok," he said with a reluctant smile.

Once they got to the hotel, Ash let his pokémon go in Misty's room, and then he went into his room, where Misty already was, little to his knowledge, hiding behind the door.

"Gotcha!" Misty yelled, blindfolding Ash.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Ash yelled helplessly as Misty made him sit down on his bed. "Misty? Where'd you go?" *She probably is just changing out of her swimsuit. That would be a good idea for me, too.*

*Ok, now where did I put that?…Ah, ha!*

Ash sat there wondering if she had just decided to leave him there, when he felt something cool on his back. "What in the world are you doing?!"

"Um…oh," Misty said, startled and blushing a little. "I found this stuff that might make the scars less noticeable," she answered.

*I wonder what Pikachu told her…why else would she?…that little rat is going to get it!* "Hey, that tickles! Knock it off"

"Hold still!" Misty yelled. With some trouble getting Ash to hold still, Misty finally finished with the cream. "I thought the blindfold would make you hold still! Oh, well. All done!" Misty finished, frowning as she took off the blindfold, still sitting on his lap.

"Hello, Misty!" Ash said with a mischievous smile on his face. He threw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and ran into the room next door. "Come on, Pikachu! Round up the other pokémon! Back to the pool!" he yelled running down the hall and doubtlessly disturbing a few of the other people who were staying at the hotel for the pokémon league tournament.

"You put me down this _instant_!" Misty yelled, pounding on his back with her fists as hard as she could.

Surf's up!

Soon they were all going through the side entrance of the pool, this time, instead of through the locker rooms, since they were already dressed.

"Ash Ketchum, put me down now!" Misty shouted, glad that no one else was in the pool.

"All right!" he said and threw her into the pool.

"Pikachu, pika!" Come on out, everybody! Pikachu giggled, letting the other pokémon out of their pokéballs.

"Gggoooooorrr!" Gyridos yelled, using its water gun attack to push Ash into the pool.

"Pika!" Pikachu shouted, trying to recall it. After it realized that only Misty could do that, it thought of another plan to get Gyridos to stop attacking Ash. "Pika pikachu?" Why are you attacking?

"Gggoooorrr, Goooorrrraaaaassss! Because he deserves it. He thinks that you are all his, just to win battles with.

"Chu! Pika pikachu. Pikachu pi pikachu chu pi." No! We're his friends. He trains us so we can win battles so that we don't get as hurt.

"Ggggoooraaa!" You'll see! Gyridos then jumped into the water and swam over and started talking to Misty, who along with Ash, was very surprised, as they had not quite understood their pokémon's conversation.

"Ok! Gyridos says that it wants a competition to see who is right. There will be three events, like in some of the Orange Island gyms. What do you say? Are you going to try or are you too scared that I'll beat ya? Misty asked, feeling glad that she could get her "revenge."

"I'm not scared!" Ash said, trying not to look Gyridos in the eye. "You're on!" he said with his old exaggerated confidence.


	6. The Score is tied

Disclaimer: Alright, I don't own pokémon and I probably never will

Disclaimer: Alright! I don't own pokémon and I probably never will. So don't sue me! The only things I own (at least in this fic) are the characters for Lupusa and Casey, and the plot for this fic. So don't take them! …or I will send my flaming growlithe after you! 

Author's note: Words in 's and 's are pokémon speech translated. Words in *'s are thoughts, pokémon or human. *****'s in a row mean that I'm changing the point of view.

Friends to the End

By Ark9

Chapter Six

"Good. The first thing is a race," Misty declared. "We'll see whose pokémon can surf to the other end of the pool and back, the fastest. Oh, and you have to _ride_ your pokémon," she stated in her normal annoying tone. "I will choose my Gyridos, of course!"

"Ok. Wartortle, I choose you!" Ash yelled, calling over his pokémon. With that, Gyridos splashed them all across the pool to the starting point, with his dragon rage attack.

"Ready, Wartortle?" Ash asked.

"WAR!" Yeah!

"You must mean ready to loose, 'cause I'm going to beat ya!" Misty yelled scarcastically.

"Raaaaaaa!"

"We'll see about that!" Ash yelled back.

"Pika! Ready! … Pi! Set! …CHU! GO!"

"And they're off!" an announcer appearing out of the blue yelled. "It seems to be an even match!"

"Wartortle, try to get on the inside!" Ash shouted and then added softly, "but don't make Gyridos mad."

"Tortle!" it said, trying to go but being shoved away by Gyridos. Soon they were coming around the pole at the other side of the pool, when it tried again, and was shoved again. "War! Wartortle!" it cried, slamming into the side of the pool with a tail whip attack.

"Better luck next time!" Misty said, zooming ahead.

"It's ok War—what?!" Ash said startled.

"Blastoise."

"It evolved into a Blastoise!" Misty exclaimed.

"Great! Blastoise, catch up to Misty!" Ash yelled excitedly.

"Blast!" it yelled, and with a start, they narrowed in on Misty and her raging Gyridos.

"The intensity of the match has caused Wartortle to evolve!" the announcer boomed. "and now Blastoise has almost caught up to Gyridos!"

"Ha, ha," Ash laughed. "Not so easy, Misty! We're catching up!"

*Oh, no!*

"It's a photo-finish! Now we are looking at the replay and it looks like Gyridos wins by a nose! It used its body above the water to cross the line first!"

"Way to use your head, Gyridos!" Misty shouted, "Look who's winning the first round, Mr. Pokémon Master!"

"Pika!" Pikachu shouted angrily.

"You might have been lucky the first time but next time you won't be so lucky," Ash shouted, with his old competitive spirit. "Everyone has a specialty. It just picked yours so that you could win!"

Target Practice

"Huh? Well, the next one shouldn't be either of ours' specialty," Misty said. "Come on outside, and I'll show you." They both recalled their pokémon and went outside.

"What are we doing out here?" Ash asked.

"The clay disks come out of this box. All you have to do is to get your pokémon to attack and destroy each disk. I'll go first! Misty calls upon Horsea!"

"Horsea!"

"Fine. As my pokémon, I choose—" Ash started.

"Chika!" Chikorita came out of its pokéball to defend Ash, whom it was a little over-protective of.

"Chikorita? You want to battle for me?" Ash asked. After an affirming "chika," he shouted, "All right! Give it your best shot!"

"Bleep!" the machine sounded, as a disk was sent whirling into the air.

"Horsea, water gun attack!"

"Horsea!" With a squirt of water, the disk was shattered. After that two disks came out at a time, and then three.

"Your turn, Ash!" she said happily.

"Are you ready, Chikorita?" Ash asked.

"Chik-a!"

"Bleep!"

"Razor leaf, now!"

"Reeeee!" it shouted. Soon its leaves had shattered as many disks as Horsea had before.

"Now what?" Ash asked, with a new determination.

"Now it shoots out one disk and whosever pokémon hits it first, wins!" Misty said excitedly. "Pikachu? Will you push the button so that it is as _fair_ as possible so that no one can complain about an _advantage_."

"Pika!" Sure.

"Pika Ready …Pi Set …"

"It's time to prepare for trouble!"

"We'd like it if you'd make that double!"

"Chu!" What!

"Not them again," Misty said.

"Can you guys come back another time? We're kind of busy right now, which would make it not a good time to try to steal Pikachu," Ash said, not really expecting any effect.

"You mean that they are _still_ trying to get Pikachu?" Misty asked.

"Hey! You didn't let us finish our motto!" Jesse complained, annoyed by their ignoring them.

"This time our plan is perfect!" James said, still in his giddy mood. "Victorybell, go!"

"Heerraaaa!" it shouted and clamped down on James's head.

"Don't attack me, attack them!" James yelled, struggling to get out of Victorybell's, err, stalk?

"I found a flaw in the plan," Meowth stated, annoyed with everything that was going on at once.

"Psy-duck!" Psyduck said, popping out of its pokéball.

"Oh no…" Ash said, looking at the two pokémon who were currently ignoring their trainer's orders. …That is, until Misty yelled at Psyduck long enough to give it a monster headache. But then it turned white instead of the normal blue color that it turned for using psychic energy.

"It evolved into a Golduck," Ash said, looking at Dexter.

"Gol-duck!" it said, using a psychic attack to send team rocket flying to a star in the distance.

"Bye Team Rocket!" Misty said happily. "I can't believe that Psyduck finally evolved!"

"I guess team rocket is good for something every once in a while," Ash said, smiling.

"Wow! Two pokémon evolved in one day. That's amazing!" the announcer boomed, appearing again out of nowhere.

"Pika?" Ready?

"I'm ready," Ash said.

"Let's go!" Misty shouted.

"Bleep!"

"Go Chikorita/Horsea!" they said together, waiting for the disk to be in the right spot, and then for their pokémon to attack and found out which one was the better pokémon.

"What happened? I didn't see it shatter!" Misty said.

"Chikorita pulled it away with a vine whip and now its going to win with something that it couldn't do the last time you saw it!" Ash stated, feeling good about the outcome.

"Oh, you taught it a solarbeam!" Misty said triumphantly. "quick Horsea! Hit it before Chikorita has enough time to build a solar beam!"

"Hor_sea_!" it cried, spitting out another small needle of water.

"KA!" it shouted, once again moving the disk out of its line of fire.

"Fire the solar beam!" Ash yelled excitedly.

"Chiiiiiii kaaaaaaaa!" it shouted, and with a powerful yellow blast, the disk finally broke.

"Great job, Chikorita!" Ash said, petting its head. Chikorita was overjoyed because he was petting her, and jumped in his lap and started rubbing her head against his arm.

"Pikachu!" Pikachu shouted, and jumped on Ash's shoulder.

"On more to go! Pikachu!" Ash shouted, dancing around, and then calmed down. "Chikorita, return!"

"And it's a tie ball game as Ash wins the second round!" the announcer boomed, even louder than before.

"Shut up, before I—" Misty started screaming and then realized that he had disappeared again. "Where'd he go?"

"Who knows, Misty? You don't have to get all worked up about it!" Ash teased. "What's the next one going to be, anyway?"

I choose you, Pokémon!

"The third round will be a double pokémon battle," Misty said. "We can have it on the practice field, but we'll need to wait until tomorrow because it won't open until then. Why don't we just get something to eat and then we can go back to the hotel?" she asked.

"Ok," Ash said, " but first let's drop off our pokémon at the pokémon center. We can pick them up on our way back to the hotel."

"Yeah, how could I forget?" Misty said, feeling very stupid.

*************Back at the Hotel*************

Err…they are both in their own rooms, thinking (for once) about what pokémon they are going to use…

"It's a good thing that pokémon centers feed pokémon!" Ash said. "Because otherwise Gyridos and Tauros would wreck the place, trying to come out to eat their dinner!"

"Pikachu!" Yep!

"Hey, Pikachu! Would you help me win tomorrow? Misty's sure to use Gyridos and your type make you have a huge advantage over it, so if you're quick, you wouldn't get hurt at all."

"Pi…pika" I…can't

"Why not? If it's because you don't want to battle a friend, I understand, but will you do it for me anyway? If we won then Gyridos might realize that the hard training pays off and maybe even stop trying to attack me. Please Pikachu? Won't you help me out?

"Pikachu." I guess so.

"What other pokémon do you think that I should use? Charizard is powerful, but is weak again water-type attacks, and all of Misty's pokémon have water attacks. Grass attacks are strong against water-types, but if she were to use Golduck's Psychic, the poison-type in Bulbasaur would hurt it even more than it hurts you or the other pokémon."

"Pikachu pi? What about Snorlax?

"Snorlax is fine, I guess. It's defense is really good, even if its type doesn't help it or hurt it. It's sure to be a surprise. Tomorrow, we have got to trade Tauros for Snorlax and get registered, ok?"

"Pika!" Ok!

*************Same time, with Misty*************

"Hi, Togepi!" Misty greeted her little egg pokémon.

"Togeprrrrrrii!" Hello!

"What pokémon do you think that I should use in the match tomorrow?" Misty asked.

"Toge?" Match?

"I think that I should definitely use Gyridos because it is the one that has the power to win…"

"Toge!" Yeah!

"But I don't know who else to use…If Ash still battles the same way he did the last time that he battled me, then Bulbasaur is sure to be one of his pokémon, so I shouldn't use Staryu or Starmie, and you are too young to battle, I found out last time, even if Pikachu did sort of lose…"

"Toge?" What did I do wrong?

"That's ok. Horsea has the agility to dodge their attacks, but one hit and it would be over. On the other hand, Golduck's psychic power would be great…if it ever listened to me. But it's a risk that I'll have to take! It's the best chance that I've got to win!" Misty figured.

"Prrrrrrrrriiiii!" Yea!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

AN: Wanna hear the rest? Do you know who will win? Bwa ha ha! Only I will know if you don't review! So go on…I love reviews!


	7. The Winner: Ash or Misty?

Disclaimer: Unless you want to see my flaming fire types (I own all of the old ones on game boy plus most of the new ones) then don't try to sue me

Disclaimer: Unless you want to see my flaming fire types (I own all of the old ones on game boy plus most of the new ones) then don't try to sue me! I don't own them, ok? I only own the characters for Casey and Lupusa, and the plot for this fic. That's it. On with the story!

Author's note:

"Speaking"

Pokémon speech translated

*thoughts*

****Change in the point of view****

Friends to the End

By Ark9

Chapter Seven

Double Trouble

The next morning came quickly upon our heroes.

"Pi-ka-chu!" Pikachu shouted, shocking Ash awake.

"Quit that, Pikachu! Or else you won't have enough electricity to battle later!" Ash yelled, waking up with a shock. (AN: Ha, ha…oh, sorry. Bad joke, I know.)

"Pika." Sorry.

"Come on! Let's go before Misty wakes up," Ash said pulling on his clothes and running out the door.

"Pi!" Ok!

Soon they arrived at the pokémon center and went over to the video-phone.

"Hi, Professor Oak!"

"Pika pi!" 

"Hi, Ash…Pikachu. I haven't heard from you for a while. Misty tells me that you two are having a double pokémon match."

"Yeah, that's right. That's mainly why I called you. I want to us Snorlax for the match. Is it awake?"

"Yes, it just woke up about five minutes ago. What pokémon are you going to switch for it?"

"Tauros."

"One more in the stampede. Great!" Professor Oak said sarcastically. "I'll go get Snorlax ready.

"Ok," Ash said, and put Tauros's pokéball in the transfer machine.

"Here it comes!" Professor Oak said, starting the machine.

"Thanks, professor!"

"No problem. Bye now!" Professor Oak said and then hung up the phone.

Ash hung up the phone and then turned to Pikachu. "We'd better get back, Pikachu!"

"Pika!" Right!

*************Back at the Hotel*************

"Are you ready, Misty?" Ash sneered.

"You bet!" Misty said, equally aggressively.

"Ok! Let's go!" Ash said as they all raced to the battlefield, with the exceptions of Togepi, who Misty carried, and Pikachu, who rode on Ash's shoulder to save its energy. (…Sorry, again.)

They burst through the doors to find an empty stadium, ready for any battles that participants might have. They both walked over to the trainers' boxes, which was just a white box at each end of the battlefield.

"As my pokémon, Misty calls upon Gyridos…!" Misty called.

"GOOOORRRRREEEEE!" it shouted.

"…and Golduck!" Misty finished.

"Gold-duck!"

"I thought that was who you would use!" Ash yelled triumphantly. "I choose you, Pikachu…!"

"Pika!"

"…and Snorlax!"

"Snore-lax!"

"Pikachu, thunder attack!" Ash shouted before Misty had time to respond.

"Piiii-kaaaa-CHU!!!" it shouted, and let the electricity go, almost fainting Gyridos.

"Golduck, psychic attack!" Misty called.

"Gol!" it said, once again ignoring her orders and used a confuse ray attack instead.

"Pikachu, watch out!" Ash shouted, alarmed.

Pikachu covered its ears with its paws and squinted its eyes closed. At the last minute, Snorlax jumped in front of Pikachu and used its reflect attack, with achieved the purpose but also sent it back the other way, which made both Gyridos and Golduck get confused.

Gyridos and Golduck both started attacking each other, until Golduck used its psychic and did a number on Gyridos. It screamed a horrible scream and then started to fall. Meanwhile, Snorlax fired a hyper beam and at the weakened Gyridos, but as Gyridos started to fall, the hyper beam whizzed over its head and kept on going into Misty.

"Misty!" Ash yelled, seeing what had happened. "Snorlax, return!" He ran across the arena. "Return, Golduck and Gyridos!" he shouted, glad that Gyridos was weak enough for him to recall.

"Prrrrriiiiiiiiii!" Togepi wailed, bursting into tears.

Pikachu talked to Togepi and got it to hold its tears in, so that everyone else could think. Ash carefully reached under Misty's knees and behind her back so that he could pick her up.

"Do you know where the hospital here is, Pikachu?"

"Pika!" it shouted with enthusiasm, and began leading the way.

Ash only saw a yellow blur as he raced behind Pikachu. The rain that was pouring down on him just seemed to add to the frustrating situation.

Recovery

*Where am I?* Misty thought, looking around the room. *Think, Misty! …a small room. There is a table at the other side, and a bed next to mine, but there is no one in it. What happened last? I was in a battle with Ash…I must be in a hospital!* She tried to sit up and get out of bed. *Ow! I can't sit up yet. It makes my head spin. There are voices outside my room. One is Ash, the other must be a doctor. I wish I could hear what they are saying…I'm too sleepy, anyway… * Misty thought as she drifted into sleep again.

*************A Little Earlier*************

Ash sat in the waiting room, thinking, and babbling to Pikachu. "Poor Misty …all my fault…stupid Gyridos…I hope we got her here in time, Pikachu."

"Pi-kaa." Me, too.

"It's my fault. I should have used a pokémon that I had longer. Then I could have helped it aim better. Snorlax is back with Professor Oak, though, and there isn't anything that I can do about it, now."

"Pika?" Think so? it asked, sadly.

The doctor came out of Misty's room.

"How is she?" Ash asked, the only thing keeping his voice down was the fact that they were in a hospital and there would be people who needed their sleep.

"Pikachu?!"

She smiled and answered, "She should be fine. You got her here just in time. My only question is how in the world did she get hit by a hyper beam? Pokémon don't usually try to attack people."

"Eh heh, heh," Ash laughed nervously. "That was my fault. We were having a double pokémon battle and her pokémon got confused. My Snorlax tried to hit one with a hyper beam but the pokémon fell under it and the hyper beam hit Misty, instead," he hung his head, waiting for the lecture that was sure to come soon.

"Oh! I see!" she exclaimed. "That's better than I thought it might be. I thought it might have been one of her pokémon that held a grudge against her, so it might happen again."

"No," Ash stated, "I guess that is a good side to this situation."

"Then she's with you, I assume. Are you her boyfriend?" she asked.

"No! Wait! I mean yes. I mean—" Ash struggled to answer her question, confusing himself more than anything.

"Whatever it is, is fine I'm sure. You can go in if you'd like," she said, relieving Ash of his embarrassing situation.

"Ok, thanks," Ash said, and walked in the door. He went over and stood next to the bed. "Misty?" he called, trying to see if she was awake. "It's no good, Pikachu. She's asleep."

"Pika, pika." Yeah.

"Will you ask the doctor if we can take her back to the hotel?"

"Pika!" Sure! Pikachu ran off and soon returned, still running its fastest sprint. "Pikachu!" We can! it cried, happily.

"Good. You bring Togepi back, ok? It's already scared so don't mention Misty still being out, alright? See if you can get it to take a nap or something." Ash said, starting to not like the egg pokémon so much.

"Pi." Ok. it said and ran out the door, still on its hyper-streak. Soon Ash could hear it chattering to Togepi.

Ash looked at Misty. *Why do I like her?* he wondered. *She's always yelling at me and teasing me, but somehow I do. It just doesn't make sense. Some day I'll work it out.* 

But then he realized what was going on and picked her up and carried her back to his room. By now it was dark and he decided that he and Pikachu better get to sleep, too. He was about ready to say something about it to Pikachu, when he thought he saw her move.

"Misty?" he asked quietly, but there was no answer. *Wishful thinking, I guess…* he thought to himself.

Pikachu looked up. He thought that his trainer must be going crazy, or else was just tired. "Pikachu pika pi." Let's go to sleep. it suggested, jumping up on the top bunk.

"All right… just a minute," Ash replied.

"Pi." Ok. he said, laying down until Ash got up there.

"You can make it," Ash whispered, kissing Misty on the cheek, and then going up on the top bunk with Pikachu.

But he had been wrong. Misty was awake and wondering where she was. She wasn't sure if she was still dreaming or not, when he and Pikachu decided to go to sleep. *So Pikachu was right all along.* She thought happily, and then drifted back into dreamland with a smile on her face.

Surprise, Surprise…

*************The Next Morning*************

Misty woke up. She liked to wake up early. Well, she liked to wake up early compared to when they used to wake up when the old group was traveling. The only one who used to wake up before her was Brock. Brock just liked to eat breakfast early and felt his "older brother" role to make breakfast for everyone else as well.

She lay in the bed, remembering why she was there. *What a day!* she thought, remembering everything that had happened. *It was sweet of Ash to help me after I just yell at him all of the time.*

"Misty calls upon Starmie!" she whispered.

"Haiya!" it called softly, appearing out of its pokéball.

Misty grabbed on to Starmie and it took her into her room to get ready. Soon she had changed into different clothes (which looked the same), and brushed her hair and teeth. Then Starmie brought her back and put her on the bed.

"Thanks, Starmie!" Misty said, recalling it back into its pokéball. Then she decided that it was about time that Ash woke up. She inched up the ladder, trying to spread her weight so that her arms or legs didn't get all of it. Eventually, she made it up the ladder.

"Pikachu?" What's going on?

"Oh! Hi, Pikachu!" Misty said, surprised.

"Pikachu." I'll wake up Ash. "Piiii-kaaaa" it prepared to attack.

"No, that's okay. I'll wake up Ash," Misty said quickly, smiling at Pikachu. "Can you wake up Togepi? It's in my room and I don't think that I could walk over there, yet."

"Pika!" Sure! its face brightened at the thought of getting its buddy. It jumped down in one leap and then ran through the next door to wake up Togepi.

"Hey, Ash!" Misty called, shaking him awake.

Ash slowly opened his eyes and waited until they adjusted. "Misty? How did you…" Ash started, puzzled.

"I made it," she said with a mischievous grin.

"What?" he asked still confused, then realized what she was getting on to. He blushed, "You were awake?"

"Yep," she said and kissed him on his cheek. "Glad I was, too."

"Pika?" Huh? Pikachu wondered, coming in with Togepi. *This is one weird morning! At least they are finally together.*

"Toge prriii?" What's going on?

"Pikachu pi. Pikachu!" I'm not sure. Let's get something to eat!

"Prrrrriiiii!" Yeah! it said, as they both ran downstairs to the breakfast area in the hotel.

"Wait up, Pikachu!" Ash called. But they were already out the door. Ash hurried down the ladder. Then he looked back up at Misty. "How did you get up there, anyway? Can you climb down?"

"Uh…I think so…" Misty answered, and started to edge down the ladder.

"Well at that speed, maybe you will make it down here by noon," Ash said, laughing.

"It's not like you are helping anything!" Misty yelled back angrily.

"Okay, okay. Calm down," Ash said, pulling her away from the ladder and putting her on the ground. "Can you walk or do you want to stay here?"

"I can walk," she answered quickly. She took a step towards the door, but her knees buckled and she started to fall.

Ash caught her and put her on the bed instead of the floor. "Nice try," he said. He couldn't bear to look at her because she looked so sad at the thought of being left alone.

"Don't leave me here!" she pleaded.

"You win," Ash said. He smirked and then turned around. "Come on," he said. Misty climbed on his back. "If you would have told me that I would bother doing this before, then I wouldn't have believed you!" he said smartly and got hit in the head for it. "Hey! I'm the one helping you here!" Ash yelled, and then headed out the door towards the breakfast area to join the pokémon for breakfast.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I hate homework! Ok, if I get 25 reviews, then I will put out another chapter. If I don't, then it might be a while until I decide to type one!


	8. Recovering and recollections

Disclaimer: Would I be writing fanfiction if I owned them

Disclaimer: Would I be writing _fanfiction_ if I owned them? No. Am I? Yes. You work it out. (and for the dense people like Ash, I don't own them!)

Author's Notes:

"Talking"

Pokémon translation

*Thinking*

*****Change of POV*****

Friends to the End

By Ark9

Chapter Eight

After breakfast, they all decided to go to the registration building, but when they got there, the sign said that it didn't open until 2:00pm.

"That's strange," Ash said, "they won't let you register until 2:00 today, but tomorrow is when the competition starts. That means that everyone has to be registered by noon tomorrow!"

"Yeah," Misty agreed for once. She was now riding Starmie around because she didn't like to be a big bother for everyone else.

"Toge toge?" What are we going to do?

"Pika! Pikachu." Wait! Look again.

"I thought that was odd," Ash realized his mistake. "It was delayed a day because of the bad weather here. The water's field is flooding and the rock field has eroded into mud," he read. 

"That's nice," he said sarcastically. "The other fields are probably messed up and being fixed, too."

"Pikachu!" it agreed.

"I wonder who's going to compete this year," Misty thought out loud.

"I don't know, but the pokémon probably need to be healed before it gets really crowded."

"Let's go!" Misty shouted as they all started towards the pokémon center

*************At the Pokémon Center*************

"Thank you, Ash. Your pokémon will be ready later this evening, okay?" Nurse Joy asked.

"Alright!" Ash said, glad that they had beaten the rush. It had been a big rush, too. They were only fourth when they came, but the line now stretched a block out of the pokémon center.

"Misty, you can pick your pokémon up then, too," she continued.

"Got it!" Misty said, leaning on the counter, out of the way for the next person.

"Looks like you have some healing of your own to do, Misty," Nurse Joy commented before 

taking the next trainer's pokémon and handing them to Chansey. She had a similar conversation with each trainer.

Misty was annoyed with the fact that someone else had noticed that she couldn't move as easily. She still liked to be independent. But how was she going to go now that she was having Starmie healed. "Stupid Misty!" she thought to herself. "You didn't even think about keeping one of them!"

Ash noticed that Misty was still staring at Nurse Joy, obviously lost in thought. He walked over to her and waved his hand in front of her face.

"Wait?" she asked agitatedly.

"Hey," he laughed, trying to cheer her up. "Don't worry about it!" he said and swung her up in his arms.

"Where are you going?" Misty helplessly asked.

"Somewhere that no one will find us."

"What?" she yelled as her heart skipped a beat.

"It's a clearing in the woods," Ash said, now entering the woods on the outskirts of the pokémon league.

"Are you sure there aren't wild pokémon living there?" Misty asked with a quivering voice.

"Yeah," Ash laughed. "There are only bug pokémon that no one could get rid of in here."

"Ash!" she cried as loud as she could.

"Hey! I don't want to be deaf before I'm twenty!" Ash yelled back and then lowered his voice again. "There is repel covering the woods for five miles into it. There aren't _any_ pokémon that are in there unless they are a trainer's pokémon." He smiled and then whispered. "Then even trainer's pokémon don't like it unless they are around the water because it smells _really_ bad to them. I don't know about it myself, but I heard that psychic pokémon can block smell or something, so I guess maybe a psychic pokémon _could_ possibly live there somewhere."

"Oh, Ash! Too much info!" she said sarcastically.

"That's good. I'll shut up, 'cause we're here!" he grinned and walked into the open grassy ring.

"What are we doing here, anyway?" Misty asked, even more confused than she was after Ash's explanation of why pokémon don't live in these woods; especially bug-type pokémon.

"Helping you recover."

"I'm fine, really," she said bashfully.

"How can you call not being able to walk 'fine,'" Ash asked, setting her feet back on the ground.

"I can walk!" she said defiantly. "Just not right now…" she added realizing that she wasn't as healed as she thought she was.

"Look," Ash started, "unless you want to attract attention for it, you've got to keep trying!" he joked and then actually looked concerned. "I don't mind helping, but hey! I can't have you getting depressed about it."

"All right…" Misty agreed reluctantly. She let go and tried to take and step forward, but started to fall forwards. Ash caught her before she had fallen far.

"I've got ya," Ash said encouragingly and then stood her up so that she was steady before letting her try again. 

Repeatedly Misty stumbled but eventually she took a step. Then one step became two or three. Eventually she was taking several steps. Finally she walked uneasily across the clearing and fell exhausted into Ash's arms.

"Good job," he said. He realized that it was almost dark.

"I'll take you back to the hotel, okay? I'll pick up our pokémon at the pokémon and get registered," he said thoughtfully, "you just try to relax. Tomorrow we can try again if you want to."

Recollections

*************

*I had been in a daze since I stood up to recall Starmie. It just makes all of your blood swim to your head again or something. Nurse Joy took all of my pokémon to be treated. It was strange. One glance and she knew that I was struggling. But she just commented on it, knowing what kind of comment that I would spit out back at her if she said anything more. Soon she went on to her other patients.

Ash told me not to worry about it. He had been especially nice since I was hurt. He even carried me through the woods to a clearing away from everyone. Why did he do it? To help me.

I was surprised and didn't want him to feel sorry for me and told him that I was fine. He knew the truth, though. I think this is the _only_ time I am glad that he is so stubborn all of the time. He put me down in there. I wonder if he was doing it as a reaction to me getting hurt, or because he really does care? But he tried to make sure I was fairly steady and then took a step away.

I didn't want him to let go of me, but I knew it was the best for now. I tried to take a step towards him but my knees buckled and I couldn't support my own weight. He caught me and stood me back up to try again. It was hard, but how could I throw an opportunity like that away? It was a good solution. It was just really frustrating for me and made me get incredibly dizzy.

After a while I started to take a few steps before my legs gave out. But he wouldn't let me give up and made me keeping trying again. I thought the world had ended and the ground crumpled beneath it.

Eventually I realized that he had led me to the edge of the clearing. Was it all over? I wondered. I half-wished that it was over so that I could stop but half-wished that it wasn't because I still wasn't self-reliant.

But he wasn't done. No, he started a couple of steps in front of me, and then took a step back every time that I took a step forward. I kept trying to retrieve whatever fight I still had to keep going. I had to make it tonight. After that he would probably be too wrapped up in the pokémon league competition to help.

I was making it! Sure enough, I was almost to the other side. Finally he stopped backing away and I continued to come forward until I reached him. I made it! I rejoiced inside and hugged him, feeling every bit like a little kid who just learned how to do something, or, with Ash, one of his pokémon that has made it through the fight. Well, I did feel like that. I was always jealous of the attention he gave his pokémon. I guess that I can't be jealous anymore.

'Good Job,' he said. 

Then he explained what he was doing next. If only I could have stopped the swirls in my head long enough to calm it and the buzzing and listen to what he was saying. I was really dazed at that point and accepted him carrying me back, even if it normally would have hurt my pride.

I just wish that I had listened and knew where he was…* Misty thought as she fell back into a peaceful sleep.

*************

Ash was waiting out the last few minutes before his pokémon where healed. *I wonder if I did the right thing. Maybe I was too hard on her.

She just looked like she would die if she couldn't walk. Carrying her was no problem. She was always scrawny before and now she must have kept the same weight as when she was or something. I guess that was one of the nice things because the clearing I knew of was deep into the woods.

Misty used to always be someone with a bad temper and would kick or punch you if you did anything at all to annoy her. Maybe that was just with Brock or me, though. But how could her energy just disappear like that? Maybe I did it because it was so unlike her or maybe Nurse Joy was right, and I did care about Misty, but whatever the reason, I was going to do anything that I could to help her get better.

She stumbled but I would make sure that she didn't fall. I couldn't help but feel sorry for her to have to go through all of this, but something made me keep going. Soon she could take a few steps and I decided that I would only have her do one more thing to challenge her before we left today.

I started her at the other end of the clearing. She seemed to be more determined in this somehow and she kept taking one step after another, following after me. I kept staying a little bit in front of her until I reached the end of the clearing. Eventually she made it there and fell into my arms. I could tell how tired she was and that made me feel a little bad about making her do it, but maybe it would give her some satisfaction in herself and keep trying.

'Good job' was all that I could say at first, and then I realized that it was already getting dark. I explained what I was going to do, but I don't think she really heard me. She seemed lost in her own world. Poor Misty. That was at seven o'clock. Now it's seven thirty.*

"Nurse Joy, are my pokémon healed yet?" I nervously asked.

"I just got finished with them, Ash. Is Misty coming for hers soon or do you want to take them because they are ready, too," Nurse Joy asked. I always thought that she sounded too cheerful for what she did every day.

"I'll take them," I answered and put my pokéballs on my belt. Pikachu was sitting on the counter before and now ran up my arm and climbed onto my hat.

"Here they are," Nurse Joy said while handing Misty's pokémon to me. "Good luck in the pokémon league, Ash!"

"Thanks," I said and forced a smile. Then I ran to the registration building. It was finally cleared out again.

I walked into the building and couldn't believe who was checking everyone in. I was too surprised to move. She giggled. I think that makes me right.

"Ash, right?" she asked.

"Uh, yeah," I finally managed to say. "So is this why you're here, Casey?" She just laughed some more. If I didn't know any better, I'd think that she was laughing at Pikachu.

"Well, no. I came with Brock. I just decided to volunteer to work here so that I would have something to do while he is running around everywhere, chasing every girl he sees. It's pretty funny," she said in a tone that I still resented. "Looks like you and Pikachu have finally realized how much you love each other."

I sweat-dropped and I think Pikachu did too. I knew that it was probably frowning and a few seconds later there were tiny stray sparks tickling my hair.

"You have a wild imagination," I said defiantly and she started laughing evilly. "Stop, Pikachu!" I said, thinking—knowing—that it was going to shock all of us if this kept up much longer.

"You don't know the half of it," she said and raised her eyebrows. "Okay, now push the button, and if you get on the ground field, then I'm gonna laugh because you won't use your lover, Pikachu!"

"Take that back!" I yelled. I bet I am blushing. Oh! This is so embarrassing! Who in the world, falls in love with a Pikachu? I wonder what Brock thinks about this… I pushed the button and landed on the water drop picture.

"You are on the water field first. Your opponent, once again will be Mandy the Magnificent. Be back for your match at 3:45pm, tomorrow, okay?" she asked, calming down slightly.

"Got it!" I yelled and then hurried away. She must be insane!

*************

Ash walked in his hotel room and put his backpack on the table. He decided to check on Misty and give her back her pokémon.

He knocked on the door before calling, "Misty? Are you awake?" He got no answer so he opened the door to her room and put her pokéballs on the table.

"Come on, Pikachu. Let's go to sleep."

"Pikachu," it agreed.

Back to Normal?

*************The Next Morning*************

Misty woke up and looked at the clock. It would still be at least another hour before Ash usually woke up. Misty liked that. She tried to stand up and found that she could support herself but could feel that dull ache that comes from working out pressing strongly against her legs.

She walked to the other side of the room where her suitcase and mirror were. She got ready and then walked across the room again and sat down on her bed. Togepi was still sleeping. She was just starting to wonder what she should do next when the phone rang in her room.

"Hello?" she asked curiously picking up the phone.

"Hello, Misty. This is Victoria. Nurse joy called and said that she'd like to talk to you as soon as possible."

"Okay. Thank you," Misty said.

"'Bye!" Victoria said and hung up the phone.

Misty hung up the phone on her end and wondered what Nurse Joy would want. She decided to bring Staryu with her just in case she started to feel dizzy again when she went to the Pokémon Center.

At the Pokémon Center, she realized that she was beginning to see slight differences in the Joys running around. As could have been predicted, there was Brock hovering around the center with Casey sitting back in a corner, munching on some popcorn and laughing her head off.

*He'll never learn!* Misty thought.

"Misty, come here!" a voice called.

Misty ran over to the one who called her name. Suddenly she realized that it was the one from Cerulean City.

"You're here, too?" Misty asked, surprised.

"Yes. I'm glad you made it here, too, Misty. I didn't think that your sisters would let you come, but I'm glad that they did."

"Well…they were not happy about it. That's for sure," Misty answered nervously.

"Have you found Ash, yet?"

"Huh?!…yeah. Actually, he was the one who brought me here."

"Ah! Have you told him yet?"

"Told him what?"

"That you like him!"

"What makes you think that I would say something like that? What makes you think that I even like him?"

"But you do. Why not tell him so?"

"Because…um…" Misty thought, looking around the room frantically as if the answer was written there somewhere.

"You don't know if he likes you?"

"Yeah. Well, sort of. I know he is my friend and everything, but I don't know how much he does just because he is my friend and how much would make me sure that it isn't just because we're friends."

"Hm…I have a plan if you would like," she paused and waited until Misty nodded to continue. "I think if you want to find out for yourself, then you could…"

(I can't tell you what that is yet or else it will ruin it later! Sorry! Bwa ha ha!)

"Okay," Misty said, trying to digest the idea and check for problems. "Do you really think that it would work?"

"Sure! Hurry along now! Good luck!"

*That was weird,* Misty thought. Then she heard a familiar voice from the restaurant next door.

"Our foods not bad, at least not the worst."

"So stop right in here for a bite."

"We're open all day, we're open all night."

"What are you three up to this time?" Misty demanded, walking through the doors.

"We're trying to open a restaurant instead of stealing pokémon," Meowth said, "then they can _buy_ rare pokémon at the pokémon game corner in Celadon City later!" he finished triumphantly.

"Meowth!" Jesse shouted, "We aren't buying pokémon! We quit Team Rocket to open this thing!"

"If you still want to help Team Rocket, go find someone else to fail with," James added in annoyance.

All of the other customers were shocked when they heard that the managers of the restaurant they were eating in were former members of Team Rocket. They all started to dash out the door as fast as they could.

"Come back!" James wailed. "You always ruin everything! We were actually being good for once!"

"Well…almost," Jesse added.

"Yeah, right!" Misty shouted. She smirked and ran out of the door. *Time for action!* she thought to herself.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I got my twenty-five reviews! *grins really big* Thanks, everybody! See how long I can write if you review?

Now I will say as for Jamie C. and anyone else who was wondering, the dream will come back…eventually. I have it all planned out, but it probably won't be for a few chapters. I don't know exactly how many 'cause I haven't typed it out yet.

Misty's plan is coming in the next part! Review! Please?


	9. Too Dark of a Spark

Disclaimer: "I own pokémon

Disclaimer: "I own pokémon!" a very hyper Ark9 dances around yelling, "but only the ones on my game boy! …and they really belong to Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures Inc. so I guess I don't own them after all. Darn!"

Author's notes: I am hyper! Durr…um, well, Misty's "secret" plan is expected later in this chapter and that's about it. Even _I_ don't know what will become of it in my state right now. Do you remember the symbols? You do? Good, 'cause I'm tired of typing them! ^_^;;

Friends to the End

By Ark9

Chapter Nine

Setting the Stage

But Misty's plan didn't go according to plan. Using Staryu, she zoomed through the woods to the clearing. It had looked so huge the night before!

She recalled Staryu and sat down to wait for Ash to find her there. She started thinking and suddenly wondered if Brock had anything to do with this. She had talked to Nurse Joy while she had been at the gym, but it was unlike her to intervene. Brock could have told her and then she agreed to do that…no. Brock would only be interested in getting together with Nurse Joy.

Suddenly she heard the grass rustle.

"Who's there?" she asked cautiously.

"So she did send you here," Daisy said while stepping out of the grass. Her other two sisters came out from the grass behind her as well as Bob, Rob, and Billy Bob (the terrible triplets).

"Huh?" Misty asked, confused.

"Clueless as usual! Do you think that Nurse Joy would do that on her own?" Daisy continued.

"I guess I thought it was a little odd…" Misty said.

"We like, got her to send you here. Wait a minute! Where's Ash? I can't, like, get my revenge if he doesn't, like, show up!" Daisy yelled in a very annoyed voice.

"How am I supposed to know?" Misty exclaimed. "Two hours ago, he was asleep, but Nurse Joy called and sent me here, saying that Ash was sure to come find me, so here I am! But the only other people here are you guys!" Misty shouted, about ready to punch someone.

"Chill out!" Lilly said. "We, like, have an idea. See he'll, like, come looking for you like Nurse Joy said, and then we can, like, get our revenge!"

"That won't work!" Daisy shouted back. "He probably, like, wouldn't be smart enough to look here! And, like, his Pikachu could beat us any day!"

"We'll get him!" Bob yelled.

"Yeah!" Rob and Billy Bob chimed in.

"Do you have, like, another idea?" Daisy asked.

"Sure!" Rob said. "But Misty's going to help us!"

"What are you talking about?" Misty growled.

"You'll see," he answered slyly.

"Come on sis'," Violet said while grabbing her arm and pulling her away.

"But—"

"Don't worry! You can write the riddle to Ash to get him to come here!" Daisy said sweetly.

"If you even _think_ that I'm going to help _them_, than you must be crazy!" Misty shouted firmly.

"I think that you might want to help us once you find out what we are going to do!" Billy Bob said smugly.

"Might is the key word there, and the answer is no!" Misty yelled.

"You can't reject a plan you haven't heard yet!"

"We'll see," Misty said as she was dragged into the woods again.

*************

Ash sat up. Pikachu was still asleep. He decided not to try to wake it up. After all, it didn't like to be surprised. He was just starting to wonder what to do, when a staryu came spinning under the door.

"What's going on?" Ash asked, realizing that it was Misty's Staryu.

"Haaii-yaaa!" It replied and dropped a piece of paper in his lap.

"What's this?" Ash asked, getting more confused by the moment.

"Haaii?" it asked, not knowing what it was, either.

He read the piece of paper and then replied, "Thank's Staryu!" He immediately ran out the door.

"Haaii-yaaa!" it said and used its rapid-spin attack to speed ahead of Ash and out of sight down the hallway.

"Wait!" Ash yelled, desperately chasing it.

Meanwhile, Pikachu woke up to all of the screaming and rubbed its tired eyes with its tiny eyes.

"Pika Pika-pi?" Where's Ash? it wondered out loud. It poked its out of the door. He could hear Ash running down the stairs. *Why would he leave without me?* it thought sadly and decided to follow at a distance.

Ash, on the other hand, was wondering which way Staryu had gone. He ran all over town looking for it in places where he thought it or Misty might like, because _especially Misty_ should know that he wasn't the best with riddles. 

He had just about decided to give up or try using Blastoise when he realized that he hadn't looked in the forest yet. He knew that Misty would normally try to stay away from forests as much as she could, but he had shown her a clearing. It was the only place left that he knew she knew where was that he hadn't looked yet.

He didn't really think that she would be there, he just wanted to go there to think. He wasn't one who liked to sit around and think very often, but even he had to did it sometime.

Along the way, he thought he heard screams, but decided that it was just his imagination playing tricks on him. Well, that's what he kept telling himself…but he just had the feeling that he was being followed. Occasionally, he would turn around, just to see that there was never anything there.

*************

But Pikachu was still following. I was usually clever and it also knew that Ash frequently acted without thinking. That was why it was still following. In the trees, it could watch without being detected, but if he would fall into trouble (which tended to happen a lot) then he would reveal that he was there to get Ash out of whatever mess he got into.

The screams were also real. Who would wonder out there? Actually, another group who were trying to get their revenge over Misty.

*************

"So we just follow this twerp to the other twerp and then we'll teach her for making all of our customers leave!" James said in a clearly annoyed voice.

"Yeah, and while we're at it, we can snatch the twerp's Pikachu!" Meowth added excitedly.

"We don't want Pikachu, Meowth!" Jesse said, unusually agitated. "We just want our customers back!"

"Right!" Meowth said, not wanting to make Jesse mad right then, since they were already in a "hole" lot of trouble.

*************

Ash finally stumbled upon the clearing, but, to his surprise, there were three voltorbs sitting in the middle of the clearing.

They all started saying "voltorb" over and over again as soon as he arrived. Then one used an explosion attack and then disappeared. The second one did the same. The third one was about to blow itself up along with the other two when what looked to Ash like an electric shock had hit it.

"Volt!" it said in surprise.

Then Pikachu jumped out of the tree and sent its shock message again.

"Why are you exploding?" Meowth interpreted out loud.

Ash looked into the bushes behind him to see the _former_ Team Rocket trio that always was getting in his way.

"What are you three doing here?" he shouted at them.

"We're looking for the other twerp, who wrecked our business!" Jesse shouted back. Ash didn't even want to think about what Misty might have done to upset them. She didn't think things through very often, either.

Meanwhile, Pikachu and Voltorb had finished their discussion, with the Voltorb still determined to explode.

"What did it say, Pikachu?" Ash asked.

"Pikachu pika pika." It says that the others are straight ahead of you.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Ash exclaimed. "Others?"

"Pikachu." Follow me. It took off into the woods, following a straight line back through the woods.

Eventually, they came to another clearing. But this one had a little cabin in the middle of it.

Dark vs. Spark

Suddenly, some funny music started playing and six dancers—three in girls' costumes and three in boys' costumes—streamed out from the woods. 

*This keeps getting stranger and stranger* Ash thought, sweat-dropping. 

The dancers continued their mysterious dance to go along with the song. When the song came to a close, they all froze out front of the small group Ash had accumulated. Then they took off their costumes to reveal…

"You!" Ash shouted.

"Chu," it questioned, sensing some danger in these people, who were normally friendly to him.

…(you guessed it) Daisy, Violet, Lilly, Rob, Bob, and Billy Bob.

"Yes, us," Rob said arrogantly, "Get him, Umbreon!" he shouted as an umbreon appeared out of the shadows with a rope.

"You, too, Houndour!" Bob yelled as a houndour appeared out of the shadows with another rope. Acting very much like Officer Jenny's Growlithes, they tied Ash and Pikachu up.

"Hey, don't forget about us!" James wailed.

"No, we're not here at all," Jesse and Meowth immediately yelled, picking up James and dashing away.

"I told you that I would, like, make you pay!" Daisy said, feeling very pleased with herself.

"Now you're final poké-problem! Goooo, Murkrow!" Billy Bob shouted. From somewhere in the treetops, a dark bird pokémon that looked like it was wearing a witches hat dove sharply down towards Ash, armed with yet another rope. It looped its rope around them and tied them in a tree.

"Neh, neh!" Billy Bob yelled and pulled down the skin under his eye. They all ran, laughing, into the woods, in the general direction of Cerulean City.

"Can you wiggle out, Pikachu?" Ash asked, hopefully.

"Pi-kaaaa," No. it said sadly.

"Aw…I can't reach my pokémon like this either!" he frowned. Then he smiled a fake smile and said, "Well, look on the bright side, Team Rocket isn't trying to steal you and we have some time to think of where Misty is."

"Pika?" Bright side? it questioned, a very sad and depressed look planted on its normally cute face.

"What are we going to do?"

"Pikachu." I don't know.

Immediately, a flock of spearow and fearow started attacking them, thinking that they were dead, but soon Pikachu shocked them, and the ones still left un-fainted acted like they were going to attack again, with a angry gleam in their eye.

Then came a giant Gyridos. Ash thought it was odd, even if Gyridos was a flying type, that one could be able to fly. But it did, and the attackers were swept away in a current known as surf.

*Two types of pokémon that I'd like to forget* Ash thought gloomily, while he remembered his pathetic first day of trying to raise pokémon and collect events leading up to the gyridos that he had gotten Misty.

Then Misty herself appeared out of the trees. "What are you hanging around here, for?" she shouted at them, trying to sound annoyed but really feeling very guilty about what she had allowed her sisters to do.

"Huh?" Ash wondered out loud.

"Pika CHU!" Get us DOWN!

"Alright! Staryu, use your rapid spin!" Misty commanded.

"Haaii-yaaa!" it shouted, and sliced the ropes.

Ash and Pikachu moaned with swirly eyes after hitting the ground.

"Sorry," Misty said. "Staryu, return!" Misty ran over to where Ash and Pikachu were.

"I can't believe that we looked _everywhere_ trying to find you, and then you help your sisters and their friends set a trap on us and get Pikachu and I stuck up in a tree," Ash shouted angrily, feeling betrayed.

"Hey! I didn't have to come and get you down you know!" Misty yelled.

"We didn't have to come after you either!" Ash fired back.

"Pikachu!" Stop fighting! Pikachu said, trying to stop them without using electricity, because it would need it later for the match.

"…Fine!" Ash shouted. "Come on, Pikachu. Let's go!"

"Pi pika," Sorry, Misty. it turned around and said. Then, it ran and caught up with Ash. "Pikachu!" Now you blew it! it yelled at Ash.

"It's not my fault that she helped them get us stuck up in a tree," Ash retorted.

"Pika pika!" Her sisters and their friends did that!

"Yeah, but she helped them. If she hadn't helped, then I wouldn't have gone."

"Pikachu," You're right.

"Do you want to see who else is here this year, Pikachu?" Ash asked, a smug smile appearing on his face.

"Pika!" Yeah! it said, curious to its trainer's change of mood.

Ash started sprinting. "Race ya to the computer!" he yelled back over his shoulder.

"Pikachu!" it yelled in mock annoyance. Then it used its agility to speed there first.

"No fair!" Ash yelled once he got in their hotel room.

"Cha!" it smiled happily and turned on the computer.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

That was depressing. Sorry…I guess I'm not hyper anymore. Oh, well! *smiles* Now I won't have to be all depressing for the rest of the fic (I think). (I'll leave that to the people who like to write drama!)

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed! I almost have thirty reviews! *smiles even bigger* Yippee! 35 reviews and I put up a new chapter!

Just a question…how many of the battles do you want me to type? I _can_ type all of them, but that would be eight battles until you found out who the champion is. I need your input to continue!

I think that I'll definitely type the first battle for next time, but maybe just have Ash discussing the next ones with Brock later. (Wait a second, I haven't gotten Brock back in it for all of you, have I? Oops! I guess I am giving some of it away after all. ^_^;;)

He, he…well, review! With next chapter comes the first pokémon league battle, and *swallows hard* putting Brock and Casey back in. (Oh, no!)


	10. A shocking beginning

Disclaimer: *kicks a rock* "Don't own them

Disclaimer: Nope. Don't own them. Wish I did! ^_^ I just (kinda) own the characters for Lupusa and Casey. Yep. That's all. Bye-bye!

Author's Notes: I haven't done ages for a while, have I? Okay…these are scary.

Ash: 18

Richie: 18

Misty: 19

Lupusa: 20

Brock: 21

Casey: 22

Nurse Joy: 22

Officer Jenny: 22

Jesse: 22

James: 22

Friends to the End

By Ark9

Chapter Ten

Mandy the Magnificent

"Hey! Richie's here, too!" Ash exclaimed.

"Pikachu!" Pikachu said, its happy mood continuing.

"What?" Ash suddenly shouted in surprise. "Brock and Misty are going to compete, too?"

"Pika!"

"But Brock's pokémon don't stand a chance in the water! …and Misty's pokémon would do well in the water field and probably the ice on too. They would even have an advantage against a rock pokémon! But grass-types mow down water-types," Ash wondered, with a completely befuddled look on his face.

"Chu!" Yeah!

"…they know that, too. I wonder why they are competing, then," Ash continued to stare at the computer screen. He started to feel guilty for running away from Misty without letting her explain why she let her sisters do that.

"Pi, kapika!" Hm, I wonder! Pikachu said, sarcastically.

"Do you know?"

"Pi?! Pikachu." Me?! Not a clue. it said, resisting the temptation to laugh at its trainers stupidity and the look on his face.

"Hm," Ash thought, not knowing whether to believe him or not. He didn't know what Pikachu was hinting at. It probably had something to do with Misty. He was getting frustrated with himself and then finally thought of something to change the subject that Pikachu would like. "Hey, Pikachu!" he called. "Let's go see if we can go find Richie!" he asked, tipping his head towards the door.

"Pika!" it said, calming down.

They both went outside to go and look for Richie, but first they decided to get something to eat.

They decided to try Jesse and James's restaurant because it was right across the street, they had helped (very little) to find Misty, and frankly, they couldn't think of anyway else to go, anyway. They went in and soon were wolfing down platefuls of food. By the time they were done, it was almost three thirty.

"Oh, no!" Ash said, realizing what time it was. "Come on, Pikachu! We've got to get to the water field!"

"Pika!" Yeah!

They took off running towards the stadium. As soon as they got into the locker room, they listened for the announcer's voice to call Ash into the field to start his first-round match.

"Oooh, that Gary," Ash growled angrily.

"Good luck, Ash!" Gary said, heading out of the stadium. "You sure are gonna need it to stay in! I hope you do, 'cause I want to be the one to beat you!"

Ash stared off at Gary's form, exiting the stadium. He thought about what Gary had said, getting more angry ever minute, but thankfully the announcer called out the next two trainers before he did anything.

"Pikachu!" Let's go!

"Alright."

Soon they were both in their trainer's boxes and ready to begin. Once again, Mandy led off with Exeggutor.

"Eeexeeehh!"

"I choose you, Blastoise!"

"Blast!"

"Exeggutor, razor leaf!"

"Blastoise, ice beam!"

"Wow! Both attacks hit home and both trainers will have to change pokémon!" the announcer boomed.

"Kingdra, go!"

"Huh? What's that?" Ash wondered, and took out his pokédex.

"Kingdra, the water and dragon pokémon," dexter said. "This is the fully evolved form of Horsea."

"Oh."

"Hurry up and choose your pokémon!" Mandy shouted from across the arena.

"Ready Pikachu?" Ash asked.

"Pikachu pi!" I was born ready! Pikachu said and then jumped off onto on of the floating blocks in the water.

"Pikachu, quick attack!"

"Kingdra, agility!"

"Both pokémon are showing off their speed, but Kingdra seems to be faster!" the announcer continued.

"Ha, ha. Your Pikachu is too slow for Kingdra while it is using its agility!" Mandy said triumphantly.

"We'll see," Ash retorted. "Pikachu! Use your thunderbolt!"

"Pika!" Yeah! it said and then started building its energy. "Pi…ka…CHU!"

"Kingdra, no!" Mandy shouted.

"Kingdra can no longer battle. Kingdra is out of the match," the referee said.

"Yeah! Just one more, Pikachu!" Ash yelled happily.

"Pika!" Yeah!

"You haven't won yet," Mandy shouted. "Crobat, go!"

*But Crobat is a flying-type,* Ash thought. *Too bad he chose the wrong pokémon to start.* He smiled.

"…Wing attack!"

"Crrraaaah!" it yelled, diving down towards Pikachu.

"Pikachu! Fry it with a thunder attack!"

"Pika!" Okay! "CHA!" it cried as it was hit by Crobat's wing.

"Pika!" it yelled angrily and then gave it a thunder attack. "Piii…kaaaaa…CHU!"

Crobat fell on its back onto one of the ice blocks.

"Crobat is unable to battle. Victory goes to Ash and his Pikachu!"

"Yea! Great job, Pikachu!" Ash yelled while picking it up and hugging it.

"Pikachu!" it answered happily.

"But I'm Mandy the Magnificent. How can I loose?" Mandy moaned and then slowly sneaked away.

"Come on, Pikachu!" Ash said. "Let's see if we can find Richie. Can you sniff out Sparky?"

"Pika!" Sure!

"Then let's go!"

Pikachu ran around on all fours with its nose on the ground with Ash following close behind. They followed the scent of everywhere Sparky had been until Pikachu finally stopped in the pokémon center.

"Pikachu?" it asked.

"Oh, hi, Pikachu!" Nurse Joy answered. "Yes, Sparky's being treated right now."

"Pika!" Found it!

"Great," Ash said sarcastically. "It would have been better if we had just come here in the first place instead of wondering around all over the place. I should probably get you and Blastoise checked, too."

"Pika!" it said and jumped up on the counter. Ash put Blastoise's pokéball beside Pikachu.

"Where are you battling next, Ash?" Nurse Joy asked.

"The rock field," Ash answered. "It always is the toughest because Pikachu is my best pokémon and it can't battle very well there."

"Hm," Nurse Joy thought and then smiled. "Looks like Blastoise will be useful for you there, too."

"Yep!" Ash said happily.

"Pikachu!" it waved as Chansey rolled a cart with it and Blastoise away.

That reminded Ash that he didn't know what he was going to do while he wanted. He went and sat down on the couch.

"Nurse Joy?" he called.

"What is it, Ash?" she asked, worry starting to sneak up into her voice. "Is something wrong?"

"I'm not sure," he said soberly. "Have you seen Misty? I mean, since I was here last time?"

"Yes," she answered, and then thought about the last time she saw Misty come to the center. "She seemed frustrated with something. She just left her pokémon on the counter and left.

"Oh," Ash sighed, feeling guilty.

"Why do you ask?" she asked with more concern.

"I just…it's nothing. I wanted to make sure she wasn't forgetting about her pokémon, that's all. Nothing to be worried about," he said and forced a smile.

"If you say so…" she responded and returned to the counter. "It's almost curfew. You should be getting back to where you are staying, Ash."

"Yeah," Ash mumbled and left the pokémon center.

Nurse Joy cocked her head to the side in confusion. Then she wrinkled her eyebrows and shook her head. "I hope he gets this straightened out," she thought out loud before turning around and getting ready for bed herself.

Ash hurried to the hotel. He went in his room and found the door to Misty's room locked.

"Misty?" he called quietly and knocked. He got no answer besides silence. "Please answer the door. I want to talk to you. Please?" he cried, but still received no answer from the other side.

Beaten, Ash had no choice at that point, other than to give up. He walked over to his backpack feeling very lonely. He put on his green pajamas that his mom had packed for him, but he never seemed to wear.

He whimpered and squeezed his eyes closed, and snuggled into his bed, wishing that he had at least Pikachu to comfort him. Then he remembered that Pikachu was still a little upset at him for leaving Misty, so it probably wouldn't be much help anyway. Soon he drifted into an uneasy sleep.

*************

Misty sat on a riverbank somewhere beyond Ash's clearing, huddled into a little ball. She watched the water flowing by and thought that she could feel it stirring the emotions inside her head.

She remembered the sinking feeling inside her heart when Ash had coldly yelled at her and then left. Then the burning anger when she got registered with the badges that she had collected to become a gym leader.

Somehow she had managed to be jealous of Casey for having _Brock_! *How low am I to feel jealous of someone with Brock?* she wondered.

She could feel the adrenaline pumping her through the first field. Then the satisfaction of proving to herself that she was still a winner and the world hadn't turned its back on her, yet.

She knew that Ash was still out there. Probably, her didn't even care that she was gone. She gave Nurse Joy her pokémon to be treated and then wondered out here with her memories of that day flooding back.

She fretted about the bank for not bringing her backpack or her sleeping bag. Eventually, she gathered some leaves together on the grass and stretched out on top of them to try and fall asleep.

"If only you knew…" she whispered to the wind, letting a single tear escape before resting her head in her crossed arms and waiting for sleep to come.

*************

Ash woke up and glanced at the clock on the wall of his room.

"Whoa! It's nine o'clock! We better get to the stadium quick, Pikachu!" Ash exclaimed and then remembered that he wasn't dressed and Pikachu was still at the pokémon center. He fell over at his own stupidity.

Then he sprinted around his room getting ready faster than Pikachu when it was using its agility. Next, he scurried to the Pokémon Center and grabbed Pikachu and Blastoise's pokéball from a very surprised Nurse Joy.

"Pika!" it cried and pried itself out of Ash's grip. It ran and attached itself onto his head. It squinted its eyes to try and see where Ash was going through the wind from his wild dash.

They arrived at the stadium just in time to hear the announcer's voice, "…and a congratulations to Brock and his Onix!"

Ash walked out of the locker room and greeted his friend.

"Hey, Brocko!" he said, now running. He didn't slow down until he completely stopped in front of Brock.

"Hey, Ash!" Brock grinned. "Casey tells me that you've seen Misty here already."

"Yeah," he lowered his head.

Casey giggled. "Looks like lover-boy Ash brought his _friend_ Pikachu here, too!" she laughed.

Ash shook himself to try to clear what she just said from his mind.

"He, he…" Brock laughed nervously. "She has some pretty weird ideas sometimes," he said, looking at her strangely.

Ash sighed with relief when he heard his name being called over the speakers to enter the arena for his battle.

Brock and Casey seated themselves in the stands behind Ash to watch his battle.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Umm…answering a question first.

'Is this going to AAMR completely?'

--Yes. Eventually (I know I'm slow) I will get to that, but I am trying to develop the characters first.

As for Casey…She did that comment about the beginning without reading what I did with her character? Ahhh! Everyone better run for cover!

I think that I'm only going to type the last battle completely after this, so don't be alarmed if I have a major time lapse.

I'm not going to do the so-many-reviews thing this time because it is summer and everyone's probably outside running around anyway. (I probably will be too.) I don't know how long it will be to the next chapter, but I will be more inclined to write if you review! ^_^


	11. Middle muddle

Disclaimer: *kicks a rock* "Don't own them

Disclaimer: *kicks a rock* "Don't own them. Sorry." *brightens a little* "But I do own the characters for Lupusa, Michelle, and Casey. 'Who is Michelle?' you ask. You will find out! Oh, yeah. I don't own the poems later in this either. They are really songs from the Pokémon Johto CD (which I don't own, either!…well, I own the CD, just not the songs. ^_^;;)."

Author's Notes: Yadda, yadda, um, happy day? I don't have anything to say. (Hey, that rhymed! Oh, dear. I've lost it…)

Friends to the End

By Ark9

Chapter Eleven

The announcer excitedly replayed the battle for the many people who were listening on the radio, "This was a fierce fight, starting with a graveler versus Blastoise. The graveler seemed to have no chance until it self-destructed leaving Blastoise very weak and graveler fainted.

"The avenging Gloom had an easy time whipping Blastoise. That brought out Pikachu, who wore it out by using its agility to dodge Gloom's vines and sharp leaves, and shooting stars known as swift at Gloom at the same time. Then it delivered a devastating tackle to bring out the last pokémon, an onix. Pikachu ran back up to Ash and Bulbasaur quickly came out.

"It was a classic David versus Goliath match when Bulbasaur solarbeamed Onix's head without having been hit once. Onix fell over and hit the ground hard, swirls seeming to replace its eyes."

Ash had many matches like these that just seemed to fly by. He often used all three of those pokémon, since they were the most loyal, but, like Pikachu then, they weren't always fainted when he called them back. Now he was walking back with Brock and Casey, after the sixth match.

"Go ahead!" he smiled at Pikachu.

"Pika!" it shouted excited and ran around Ash, Brock, and Casey a few laps before it ran away like it had after the last few matches.

Casey frowned," How can you just let your beloved Pikachu just run off on its own like that? What if Team Rocket found it?"

"Then they would be in for the shock of their life," Ash replied with a laugh. Brock just rolled his eyes.

"Ash!" Brock shouted in an annoyed tone. Ash grinned and sat down on the bench with Brock and Casey.

"What?" he asked in a fake clueless tone.

"Never mind," Brock sighed. "Do you know who is still left, Ash?"

"No," Ash said, feeling stupid.

"Richie, A.J., Lupusa, and you," Brock replied proudly.

"Tough crowd," Ash said. "I've lost to all of them before."

"That's right!" Casey said, a grin reappearing on her face. "You'll have to give Pikachu a big hug if it wins!" she said in a taunting voice that made the other two sweat-drop really big.

"Right…" Ash said, raising an eyebrow. He was starting to wonder if she ever gave up on that. Pikachu was close to him, and that made it really hard to defend himself. He probably _would_ hug whichever pokémon was left if he won…

*************

Pikachu wove through the sticks until he reached the clearing that was starting to grow familiar to him. It dashed across and then started its weave again until it reached a stream. There it saw what it was looking for.

A few yards down sat three girls in a circle. The navy-haired girl named Lupusa was facing Pikachu and her smiled turned into an excited yell.

"Hey, Pikachu!" she cried and spread her arms apart.

"Pika!" it said happily and jumped into her arms. It sat in her lap and turned around to face the other two girls.

Even Misty's face brightened a little when she saw Pikachu. The other girl's name was Michelle. She had forest green hair that fell just past her shoulders. She wore a white T-shirt and jeans. 

Lupusa now wore a yellow and blue striped tank top with jean shorts. She rubbed Pikachu's head between his ears.

"Is Ash doing okay, Pikachu?" Misty asked it suddenly.

"Pi…" it struggled to answer. "Pika pikachu pi." Yeah, but he misses you.

"Is he still hanging around Brock and my sister?" Michelle asked.

Pikachu giggled, "Pikachu!" said and then jumped out of Lupusa's lap to do an impersonation of them.

In the end, Pikachu and all three of the girls were holding their bellies and rolling in laughter. Then they sat up and wiped away the tears of joy that had formed there. 

Pikachu looked up at the sky.

"Pikachu." I have to go. it said sadly.

"Okay," Lupusa said.

"Bye, Pikachu!" Michelle yelled.

"Don't forget what to do when it's over, Pikachu! Just in case I don't see you again. Do you remember?" Misty asked hopefully.

"Pikachu!" it nodded and then ran away called over its shoulder as it ran, "Pi pika!" Goodbye!

When it arrived at the Pokémon center, Ash and Nurse Joy were both there waiting for it at the counter.

"Were you playing with Sparky, Pikachu?" Ash asked, curious as to why his Pikachu was always running off after battles and having a good time.

"_Pi_- kachu!" he shook his head "no" and then tried to charade Misty but Ash couldn't figure it out.

"Aw, whatever Pikachu," Ash said, "You aren't making any sense."

"Alright! Time for your relaxation therapy!" Nurse Joy called to Pikachu.

"Cha!" it said happily and jumped on the counter. "Pika!" See ya! it waved with a smile at Ash.

"Have fun!" he called back and then went to the computer to learn whatever he could about the other trainers. He noticed that, oddly enough, Lupusa had almost nothing known about her strategy, as none of the previous trainers had been able to get past her first pokémon, Umbreon.

Richie, once again, had Sparky, a pikachu. He remembered that Richie had told him once that Sparky hadn't made its mind up about whether or not it wanted to evolve, but that it would have to see an actual stone to make up its mind. Zippo was now a charizard, and Happy was of course, still a beautiful butterfree.

A.J. used to have almost every kind of pokémon, so Ash was particularly interested in what pokémon he had used. He had his loyal sandshrew, evolved into a sandslash, a big victorybell, and a vulpix, unevolved.

Ash grinned. None of them had given away more than half of their pokémon. This was going to be fun.

*************

Meanwhile, Misty was still at the creek. She had gone back for her stuff that morning after she first slept there. Now, she wasn't sure how long she would stay there. If Pikachu is able to get Ash to do what it wanted, then it shouldn't be more than a couple of days. 

If not, then she was going to be there…she didn't know. She didn't want to think about it. It hurt her heart. She told herself that she should just forget about Ash; that he probably was happy to not have her tagging along after him, nagging at everything that he did. She was a shadow. A dark shadow. Many people complained about things like that. She guessed that was wrong with over half of the people who visited the psychologist for a "calming" session. No wonder he hated her so much.

She pulled out a notebook from her bag. It was a blue one that she had gotten from the pokémon league when she registered. She had always wanted to be a poet someday, and really liked French things. Too bad she couldn't go there. But she thought that this notebook just might be the way that she could practice and learn. She looked over the poems that she had already written.

The first one, she had written and almost given to Ash after he refused her help to fight against Brock. …but then he had won, so she couldn't say anything. She still read it over and smiled.

Do Ya Really Want to Play?

__

Just look in my eyes, tell me

You've got all that it takes, and much more,

All you've go to do is say

Stop telling me lies, show me

With every move that you make, you can score,

Just tell me that you want to play

You can feel it, 

But can't steal it

'Cause boy I've got the magic touch!

Can you be the best

With the power you possess

Will you step up to the fight?

Can you pass the test

Are you frightened to confess

That you just can get it right?

You can win or loose

But you've gotta pay your dues

Step up or step away

Do you really wanna play?

The challenge is yours, take it

You met them before, now prove to me

You control your destiny

Keep it steady

Get ready

Show me that you've got the stuff

Can you be the best

With the power you possess

Will you step up to the fight?

Can you pass the test

Are you frightened to confess

That you just can get it right?

You can win or loose

But you've gotta pay your dues

Step up or step away

Do you really wanna play?

Let yourself know

This is my show

Watch me when I play

Keep your mind set

You'll get 

Better every day

Can you be the best

With the power you possess

Will you step up to the fight?

Can you pass the test

Are you frightened to confess

That you just can get it right?

You can win or loose

But you've gotta pay your dues

Step up or step away

Do you really wanna play?

The next one she started at the first pokémon league. She didn't know how he would do, then. He took it pretty hard when he lost and so she had added another verse while waiting for him to come out of his room. She had abandoned it after that, until he ran away. Then she had added a third verse from the Cerulean Gym in her frustration. Now, she didn't think she would add any more. It was a poem she had written when she was annoyed with Ash. He was gone now.

He Drives Me Crazy

__

He wanders off

He's just lost without me

Doesn't matter what I say

I try to give advice

I tell him twice

He won't listen, gotta do it his own way

He drives me crazy—all of the time

He drives me crazy—he drives me out of my mind

So why do I worry 'bout him,

Why do I care?

I don't know why I let it faze me,

But he drives me crazy

He's here and there,

everywhere,

just looking

Always finding something new

I know he's kinda strange

He'll never change

What's a girl supposed to do?

He drives me crazy—all of the time

He drives me crazy—he drives me out of my mind

So why do I worry 'bout him,

Why do I care?

I don't know why I let it faze me,

But he drives me crazy

Just go off in your own direction

And see if anybody cares

Just don't coming running back to me

Ash Ketchum

He'll be wishin' he had listened then

'Cause I told him time and time again

He drives me crazy—all of the time

He drives me crazy—he drives me out of my mind

So why do I worry 'bout him,

Why do I care?

I don't know why I let it faze me,

But he drives me crazy

She sniffed back tears. She wished that he was back now, even if he did drive her crazy doing things his own way, even when it was the wrong way. At least she had friends who played with her during the day today, but Lupusa's eyes had grown really big right after Pikachu left. She mumbled something along the lines of "he's back" before quickly saying goodbye and teleporting Michelle and herself away.

Now she was alone. Desperately alone. She almost wished that she could kill herself now. Her mind joked with her. She wanted to write to one of her friends to see if they had a gun. But then her mind replayed it, and she realized how stupid she was being. She couldn't have done it anyway. Her stubbornness was not a cover-up like many of her other reactions. Besides, there was still that slight glimmer of hope…small…but if Pikachu followed through…it could work…

*************

Ash retreated from the computer screen. He had learned what he had wanted to know. Now, he just had until Pikachu and his other pokémon where ready. He slouched down in a couch facing the counter. He hated the time when Pikachu wasn't there.

Pikachu had a way of cheering him up. Even if it was jeering, sometimes it knocked some sense into him, and he realized exactly what he was doing and why it wasn't such a good idea. Of course, that wasn't always the case. Now was one of those times. He felt sick with himself.

If only he had not walked away from Misty then.

But it was too late. The damage was done…right?

He didn't know what to do anymore. His pokémon was against him on his decision, Misty wasn't there anymore because she was who he had wronged, and who did that leave for him to turn to? His other pokémon would agree with Pikachu, and Brock was probably having a good time with Casey. The only other people who he knew would always be there for him were the former Team Rocket.

But he had a mental block against them. They had been fairly nice to him recently, but he didn't know how trustworthy they were. Plus, they had so many squabbles themselves, that it was a miracle that they didn't split up years ago. He remembered all of the times that Pikachu had shocked them just to shut them up from arguing and scratching each other.

Well, that wasn't exactly accurate. He had Richie…somewhere. A.J. and Lupusa had been friendly as well, but they had really only seen him when he was in battle. Actually, none of them had seen him for twenty-four hours. At least not consecutive twenty-four-hours.

Ash sighed. He would solve that after the league, but first he had to concentrate on his matches. He smiled, thinking about the match tomorrow. This was still going to be fun…and surprises guaranteed since he didn't know all of anyone's pokémon. His faced was covered with a ridiculously happy grin as he leaned back and fell asleep.

*************

Neither knew just how surprising that next day would be…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Next is the final battle of the league! If you don't like the action…sorry. It's the Pokémon League, what do you expect? I think that I will be happy to stop writing so many battles myself, actually…

I have a few things to say to the people who have reviewed. First off…THANK YOU!!! I love reviews! People just keep coming back! Love you all! (Hey, stop looking at me that way, Casey!)

Also, this is no BAML story! (Didn't I already say it was AAML?) Brock's comment was meant to embarrass Ash because he thinks that Ash likes Misty. He was teasing, not wanting to find Misty for himself. He's already got a girlfriend! Heh, heh, heh…

I guess it is about time that I state my opinion about the whole Ash and Pikachu thing, huh? Alright, if you must know…I think that Ash and Pikachu love each other, but not in a romantic way! ^_^

Did you think that Gary was going to be in there? Sorry if you like Gary, but I think that he is just in it when he thinks that he will definitely (or most likely) win. He must care about his pokémon a little bit. Heck, he kisses their pokéballs! No, he is skipping this one, and may or may not come back since I don't like him much, and don't know how far I am going to (or you'd want me to) take this, yet.

All opinions appreciated!! Even if it is bad, if you tell me why, then I can make improvements. Of course, I like good reviews better, but review! Please?


	12. The final round

Disclaimer: Nothing is mine except the characters for Lupusa, Michelle, Casey, and the plot for this fic

Disclaimer: Nothing is mine except the characters for Lupusa, Michelle, Casey, and the plot for this fic. Even them, I don't know if can really _belong_ to me.

Author's Notes: Yet another twist. Sorry D. Marco, this is going to flip around in yet another previously un-thought of way. Bwa ha ha! I love surprises!

Friends to the End

Ark9

Chapter Twelve

"This has been an interesting tournament! While A.J. has beaten Richie to get here, we had a semi-final-round automatic forfeit from Lupusa, and Ash has gotten some sort of 'bye' to continue to this match!

"So in the final round on field one, we have Ash as the green trainer," the announcer stops for a dramatic pause, "and A.J. as the red trainer!" the announcer boomed.

Ash and A.J. both walk in from opposite sides of the field, waving their arms up and down above their heads.

"There is another unique thing about this battle," the announcer continued, "because both trainers have chosen a mouse pokémon as their first pokémon even though neither are normal starting pokémon."

"So we meet again," A.J. says with his eyes flashing.

"You betcha!" Ash replied with an equal competitive spirit.

"Let the battle begin!" the referee shouted loudly and raised both of his flags.

"Go, Vulpix!" A.J. shouted.

"Go, Charizard!" Ash yelled.

"Vulllll!"

"BaaaZZOOOR!"

"Vulpix, fire spin!"

"Charizard, quick! Fly up in the air!"

Vulpix's hurricane of fire caught Charizard mid-way and Charizard got stalled. It used the spinning fire to its advantage, as it spun against it as hard as it could. Using that version of sword's dance, it sent the fire back at Vulpix. As soon as the fire cleared, Charizard dove down on it hard and then swept it off of the ground before Vulpix had time to react.

"All right, Charizard! Now use your seismic toss," Ash yelled excitedly.

Charizard flew in three large circles before sending Vulpix hurling to the ground, over fifty meters below.

"Vulpix can no longer battle!" the mono-tone referee said.

"You got lucky the first round, Ash. But no one beats me!" A.J. shouted. "Your turn, Feraligator!"

"Fooorrrr!"

Feraligator and Charizard eyed each other and as soon as the referee raised the flags, they started on their own. Feraligator kept trying to hit a flying Charizard with its hydro pump.

"Charizard, use your FLY attack!" Ash commanded.

"Be ready for it! Catch it and drench it in another hydro pump!" A.J. called.

Both pokémon nodded. Charizard flew down at Feraligator and hit it. Then it tried to swoop away, but Feraligator had survived and now it had a hold of Charizard's foot. Quickly, it sent a chill up Charizard, by hydro pumping Charizard's tail. Then it swung Charizard down with a slam attack.

"BaaZZOOOORR!" it cried in pain.

"Charizard is out of the match!" the referee said, unemotionally as usual.

"Charizard!" Ash said sadly. "You did a good job. Now it's your turn…Chikorita!"

"Chika!" it shouted, disappointed because it was too far away from Ash. It decided to take its revenge out on Feraligator.

"You're using _that_ thing!" A.J. laughed at the tiny Chikorita.

"Size isn't everything!" Ash grinned.

"You certainly think so!" A.J. smirked.

Meanwhile, their pokémon had started. Feraligator saw no danger, so was sitting down, spitting tiny spurts of water. Chikorita was using its agility to dodge every attack.

"Feraligator, fill up the place with water! Use your surf attack!" A.J. called.

"Chikorita, ride that surf! And while your leaf is down, prepare for a solarbeam!" Ash called.

Both pokémon had a new sense of pride for the job that their trainers had given them to fulfill.

Feraligator formed a giant wave that soon filled the stadium up with water. Chikorita had her leaf bent down over her face and she had somehow managed to get all four of her paws on it. At the base of her leaf, there was a small golden glow that gradually grew until it shot out at Feraligator.

The water died down, and Chikorita spun around a few times on her leaf before falling down sideways. She immediately stood up and glared at her enemy. Feraligator didn't move from its sprawled position.

"Feraligator can no longer battle!"

"Okay. Good job, Feraligator," A.J. said and smiled slyly. "You have improved a lot since I battled you last, Ash. I congratulate you, but I will not be defeated! Victorybell, I choose you!"

"Kyaaaa!"

"Chi!"

"YAAA/CHIIII!"

"Victorybell, razor leaf attack!"

Ash suddenly remembered a similar situation he was in with Duplica, when it was Bulbasaur versus Ditto, transformed as a Bulbasaur. Unfortunately, this gave Victorybell time to get a free attack and Chikorita fainted.

"It's okay, Chikorita!" Ash recalled it. "Go, Bulbasaur!"

"Victorybell, razor leaf again!"

"Bulbasaur, use your vine whip!"

"Bulba!"

Bulbasaur block Victorybell's leaves with its vines and then picked Victorybell up in its rough vines.

"Use your slam attack!" Ash shouted.

"Bulba-saur!"

Bulbasaur swung Victorybell hard against the ground.

"Kyaaa!"

"Victorybell is unable to continue battle."

"Victorybell, return. Go, Hitmonchan!" A.J. yelled. "Fire punch!"

"Mon!" it cried.

"Go," the referee said.

"Use your solarbeam, Bulbasaur!"

"Ba!" it pointed its bulb at the sun and braced itself while gathering energy.

"Chan!" Hitmonchan shouted, thrusting out its flaming glove at Bulbasaur.

"Saur!" it screamed in surprise, tumbling back towards Ash's trainer's box in a pokémon fireball, further fueled by the sunlight it just collected.

"Ah! Bulbasaur!" Ash yelled, looking at the now-smoking pokémon. "Bulbasaur, return!"

"That plan just fizzled out!" A.J. shouted happily.

"You just wait!" Ash shouted back with a mischievous grin. He thought about the last attack Hitmonchan had just used. "I choose you, Blastoise!"

"Blast!"

"Thunderpunch!" A.J. smirked.

"Oh, no! Withdraw!" Ash yelled, becoming scared for Blastoise.

"Chan!" The attack came to Blastoise's shell.

"Hydro pump!"

Blastoise used its last bit of energy to fire the powerful attack.

"Hit!" it screamed in pain.

"It's okay, Hitmonchan. Good job," A.J. said, calmly. "Now here's a pokémon that should make a big boom! Electrode!"

Blastoise stood up shakily to glare back at Electrode.

"Thundershock!"

"Eeeeeee!" It released a little bit of electricity on Blastoise.

"Blastoise is unable to battle."

"Blastoise, return!" Ash yelled, his heart sinking as he tried to decide what pokémon to use next. He closed his eyes for a few seconds and then flashed then open. "Tauros, I choose you!"

"Rrroooooaaaaa!"

"Electrode, explosion!"

"Tauros, take down!"

"Electrode, electrode, electrode…" it repeated, starting to glow bright yellow.

Tauros galloped towards Electrode, increasing its speed as it ran. When it was a few meters away it leapt over Electrode.

Light shot out of Electrode and it erupted.

"As soon as the smoke clears, we will see what damage that attack did," the announcer boomed. The crowd leaned in on the edge of their seats. Ash and A.J. looked on with determined expressions.

Electrode sat at one end, looking very burnt. It had swirls for eyes. Tauros lay with its feet curled under it at the other end of the field.

"Tauros and Electrode are both unable to battle," the referee said.

"Mouse to mouse. Too bad for you that electricity doesn't effect ground-types at all," A.J. smirked.

Ash smiled. He had thought that this would happen. This Pikachu would win! "Ready, Pikachu?"

A sly grin covered its face, "Pika!"

"Why don't you just give up now and save your Pikachu from the pain?" A.J. teased. He had seen the books. Electric-types were so bad against ground-types that the books claimed that it was impossible for the electric-type to win. He wouldn't go that far, but it was a great match-up for him.

"You are wrong. Your sandslash is the one who is going to feel the pain from this match," Ash sparked.

"That's ridiculous," A.J. laughed.

"Neither trainers are sending out their pokémon," the announcer said with a bored tone.

"Will it be a draw?" the referee queried.

"No!" both trainers shouted and Pikachu jumped down from the box onto the purplish-blue ground.

"Pika!"

"Go, Sandslash!"

"Slash!" it cried to the little yellow blur that was coming towards it. "Saaaa!" it yelped in pain as Pikachu's fist connected with its head.

"That was a dynamic punch!" the announcer shouted, excitement returning to his voice. "A fighting attack, for those spectators who didn't know.

"Slash!" it shouted, outraged with the super-effective attack. It was dizzy as it tried to burrow underground and only succeeded in hitting its head on the ground again, but not as hard as Pikachu had hit it.

"Iron tail!" Ash shouted, causing A.J.'s eyes to widen.

"Watch out, Sandslash!" A.J. frantically called. Sandslash staggered dizzily around until it braced itself on all four of its paws.

"Sandslash is confused no more!" the announcer boomed.

"No!" Ash yelled, annoyed.

"Cha!" Pikachu cried, bringing its stiffened silver tail down sharply across Sandslash's chest.

"Aaaaaaaaaannnnnnn!" The pained cry pierced the air.

"Just one more, Pikachu."

"Chu!"

"Sandslash, earthquake!"

"Sand!" It drove its paw into the ground and caused the ground to split.

"Pika!" Pikachu shouted in surprise. It rolled back onto its tail and sprung into the air, charging itself as it flew up and landed against Ash's trainer's box in the air.

"Look, mommy! It's like a balloon! What's that called, again?" a stray child's voice echoed around the stadium.

The announcer cleared his throat over the suddenly silent stadium. "The Pikachu has used its light weight to its advantage by holding itself against the wall with static electricity."

"Dang!" A.J. shouted.

"Again!" Ash yelled.

"Pikaaaaa!" it gathered energy as it ran and then brought its tail up. "Chu!" it cried, slashing Sandslash with another Iran Tail attack.

The crowd held their breath as the Sandslash staggered back and fell to the ground, swirlly-eyed.

"Sandslash is out of the match. Victory goes to Ash and Pikachu!" the referee suddenly sounded excited.

Ash ran down to greet his Pikachu, who was also running towards him. He grabbed Pikachu's paws and swung it around in a few circles before it jumped onto his arm. Ash looked at where he had been on his arm, then looked at his other arm to see Pikachu jump, this time landing softly on Ash's head. He laughed.

Then there was a crunching sound in front of him. It was A.J.

"Good match, Ash. You deserved it," A.J. said and held out his hand.

Ash shook A.J.'s hand. "That was the best match that I've had in a long time."

A camera flashed, capturing the moment. Both boys shaking hands and grinning from ear to ear. The surviving pokémon, a small Pikachu, clinging to his trainer's hat, equally happy.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

^_^

Did I surprise you? Hope you liked it! This isn't the end…well of the fic, anyway. All of you people who were patient enough to wait for the next part will be pleasantly rewarded, I think. Ash and Misty finally get back together! Wait! I just gave it away! I might change that now…NOT! ^_^

As usual…please review! (If you read it, why wouldn't you review?)


	13. Celebrations and revelations

Disclaimer: I do not own pokémon

Disclaimer: I do not own pokémon! They are copyrighted to Nintendo, Creatures Inc., Game Freak, WB for Kids, and whoever else I left out, please accept my apologies. I am just writing for fun not for profit like everyone else so don't sue me! Lupusa and Casey are mine, I guess, and so is the plot for this fic.

Author's note: See? I got my big disclaimer back! I'm just going to copy and paste it from now on…okay, I don't have anything to say here…(can you tell?)

Friends to the End

By Ark9

Chapter Thirteen

After the League

Crunch, crunch, crunch. Sticks and leaves snap with every step. These woods were becoming a little too familiar. He had switched Tauros for a kakuna back at the center, planning to train it once he got far enough away. However, it evolved as soon as he let it out of its pokéball.

"I can't believe that I won, Pikachu! You were awesome! I think that is a record, an electric-type beating a ground-type at this level."

"Pika?"

"Since a ground-type has such a big elemental advantage."

"Pika!"

"Now it is time to celebrate! I choose everybody!"

All of Ash's pokémon are let out of their pokéballs as they reached the river that Misty had camped at for a few days.

"Squirt! Squirtletle!" Hey! There is a river here! Squirtle goes and jumps in the water.

"Bulba_saur!_"and the sun is shining bright! Bulbasaur lays out to sun bathe.

"Chikachika!" I'm right behind you, Bulbasaur! Chikorita goes and lays beside Bulbasaur.

"Drill drill drill, Beedrill!" I've evolved and now I want to fly! With that, Ash's new Beedrill flies in circles above their heads.

"Char! Charizardchar." Yeah, I won't have any problem keeping my flame lit. Charizard goes and stands on a rock and falls asleep.

"Snor, Snorlax." Good idea, Charizard! Snorlax plops down on the ground and makes everyone else fly up and land hard on the ground.

"BAAZZZORRRR!" Charizard yells and fries Snorlax.

However, Snorlax was already in a deep sleep. Satisfied, Charizard falls asleep, too.

"Pikachu!" shew! Pikachu says and sighs that a little cloud-thing.

"Wait for me!" Ash yells excitedly as he jumps into the river, having changed into a swimsuit.

"Pika pika!" I'm coming too! With that, Pikachu jumped in with an inner-tube. Don't ask me where he got it.

"Wooo hoooo!!!" Ash jells while swimming down the river, racing ahead of Squirtle.

"Squirtle squirt!" The chase in on! With that Squirtle rushes ahead of Ash.

"Hey. Wait up!"

"Squirtle?!" Whoa! As it yells, it falls off a waterfall.

"Huh, what happ— Ahhh!!!!" Ash yells as he falls off right after it.

"Pikapi!" Ash! it shouts but is powerless over the fact that Ash just fell of the waterfall. Luckily, it was far enough behind to swim to shore. Pika pikachu! come on, everybody!

At this, Bulbasaur and Chikorita race down the hill behind Pikachu. Charizard wakes up and blasts the closest thing to him in anger. That happens to be Snorlax, and this time it wakes him up to full consciousness. It, however, doesn't know why it woke up and just recalls itself into his pokéball downstream on Ash. Charizard realizes that everyone is gone and decides to follow them in the air.

*oh, no!* Squirtle thinks and then hits the water. Ash lands close by. *Ash! I've got to get him on land!* With that, Squirtle pulls Ash up on his back and starts swimming to shore.

"Pika Pikachu!" There's Squirtle!

"Bulba_saur!_" I'll get him! Bulbasaur Vine-grabs Squirtle (who has lost his cargo) out of the water.

"Chika chika!!!" There's Ash! (Chikorita yells as she pulls up Ash, like Bulbasaur pulled Squirtle.)

Both grass pokémon set down who they are holding. Squirtle immediately shakes himself off and yells at Bulbasaur for whipping him when he was a water pokémon because it hurt! Pikachu runs over to Ash and stops Bulbasaur and Squirtle from fighting by thundershocking them, which also hurts Squirtle quite a bit. Bulbasaur, being a grass type, is hardly affected. Squirtle, exhausted from the river and the following attacks, recalls itself into its pokéball to rest. Chikorita also runs over to Ash, having always been attached to him like Pikachu. Beedrill notices Ash, and thinking (much like Pikachu) that an attack might wake him up, uses his twin needle attack.

Beedrill's Mistake and the Grass-o-lution

"Pika! Pikachu pikakaka! Pikachu!" No! Don't attack with poison! He's probably poisoned now!

"Drill drill! Beedrill!" I didn't know! Sorry!

"Pika chu Pikapi!" You hurt Ash!

"Chika chikarri!" Now you'll pay!

Chikorita razor-leafs its wings, which doesn't do much since it is a grass attack and Beedrill is a bug-type. Then, Pikachu does its Thunderbolt, which fries it because of its flying-type.

"Drill!" it cries in pain as it is automatically returned to its pokéball from fainting.

"Bulbabulbasaur, saursaur!" I wanted to help too, Chikorita! Bulbasaur yells, somewhat angry.

"Chika chikorita, chika." I can do everything for you so just go away.

"Pikapika! Pikachu pika pikachu? Pikachu pika chu chu pika pikachu!" Don't fight now! Why don't you solve it by seeing who can make an antidote first? The loser has to return to their pokéball and the winner can continue to help.

"Chika/Bulba!!!" Okay!!! they yell at the same time.

With that the two pokémon worked hard to get an antidote and were making record time, which was good because Ash was getting worse by the second. Charizard, not ever really liking humans much, had come to like Ash and respect him but realized that the fun was over for now and recalled itself into its pokéball. Finally Bulbasaur had as much as his bulb could hold. Chikorita hadn't quite finished filling her leaf.

"Bulbasaur!" I win! it yells excitedly.

"Chika…" No way… it said sadly and then returned to its pokéball as it said it would before.

"Pika! Pikachu!" Hurry! Get Ash to drink it!

"Bulbasaur!" I will! it said and ran over to Ash. Then it sent a leaf out and caught it with its vines. Pikachu held it and used it as a funnel for Bulbasaur.

Soon they got Ash to take the antidote and could only wait. Pikachu noticed that the sun was almost setting.

*Oh, no! He's not going to wake up in time! What should I do…she'll be worried…* Pikachu wondered. "Pika pika?" What should we do?

"Bulba bulbasaur. Bulbasaursaur." We'll have to tell her that he isn't coming. You stay here and watch out for him. Bulbasaur turned around and started to leave.

Success At Last!

Ash slowly blinked his eyes a few times and then the world came into focus.

"Hey, Pikachu!" he said quietly.

"Pikachu! Pikachu pikapika!" You're awake! Bulbasaur come back! it said in a tone that showed its relief and excitement.

"Bulba?…Bulbasaur!" What?…That's great! Bulbasaur quickly came bounding back.

"Thanks, Bulbasaur!" Ash cried happily.

"Bulbasaur." You're welcome. Bulbasaur said, smiling. Then it fell down. It was tired from making the antidote so quickly and only had managed to stay conscious to help Ash.

"Bulbasaur! You deserve a rest, buddy. Bulbasaur return!" Ash said excitedly.

*If I don't get him away, soon, it'll be too late!* Pikachu thought. "Pikachu!" Follow me! Pikachu said, and then stole Ash's hat and started to run away.

"Hey! Give me back my hat!" Ash said, quickly jumping to his feet.

Ash then got that determined look on his face and began to chase Pikachu. It was little and he could hardly see it. It also didn't help that it kept going under sticks and zigzagging all over the place. Finally he reached a place that looked somewhat familiar, though at this time, it just looked big and dark. Suddenly, the area lit up, though, Ash didn't know how since there didn't seem to be any pokémon around. (In reality, it was Lupusa's Espeon that lit it up with a faint blue light. Her Umbreon, then used its ability to seem to disappear in the shadows to make Espeon, Pikachu, and itself disappear from sight.)

"Huh?" Ash asked looking around.

Then he saw someone standing in front of him. They wore a tight black suit and a matching black hood that covered everything but their eyes. Whoever-it-was obviously was a girl; and by her eyes, he knew that he should know who she was. But that didn't matter. At the moment, all he cared about was the fact that _she_ was wearing his hat!

*Where'd Pikachu go?* Ash wondered for a moment before yelling at the girl. "…Hey! Give me back my hat!"

Ash rushed forward to get his hat, but she was quick! She dodged around the clearing for a while before Ash finally whipped it off her head. Ash quickly put it on, but as a surprise from actually being caught, she squeaked and grabbed his arm. What she didn't realize until now was that in pulling off the hat, her hood had also fallen down around her neck, revealing her bright orange hair.

" …M-Misty?" he asked, surprised.

"Yeah, it's me," she said, cautiously looking up.

"…um…" *What should I say? Quick, Ash, think! Aw, how cute. Maybe she does like me after all.* He smiles at the thought.

*Now I've made a fool of myself. Why does this happen to me? Get a hold of yourself Misty!* She starts to pull away but then notices him smiling at her and can only smile back. *What is this? Could it be that he actually likes me? …After everything that I've done to him?*

*This is great!* Pikachu thought, munching on its bowl of popcorn. (Where does it get these things?)

*You said it! Lupusa will be so happy when she finds out that we were able to get them to follow through.* Espeon replied in its head. (It can read Pikachu's and Umbreon's thoughts and send readable thoughts back to them cause it's psychic)

*Yeah!* Umbreon thought.

*I suppose that we are being a little rude to be still watching. We need to get back home. I'll keep the place lit. Pikachu, you should go back to your room and get some sleep. We don't want Lupusa worrying about us, either. I'll teleport us, okay?* Espeon thought.

*You're right.* Umbreon agreed sadly.

*But I want to see this! He's my trainer!* Pikachu argued.

*Yea, but he wouldn't appreciate it if he knew that you were spying on him, do you think?* Espeon shot at him.

*I guess not. Alright, I'll go back.* Pikachu finally gave in.

*Teleportation!* Espeon focused on the thought.

Suddenly all three pokémon felt a whirling feeling as they were teleported to their correct area. Espeon kept concentrating and the blue light stayed there, unflickering.

Meanwhile, Ash and Misty are still in the middle of the clearing.

Ash thought from before, then smiled his old smile "…what made you come out here, Misty?"

Misty immediately forgot her old excuse she had planned. She blushed and sweat-dropped in embarrassment. "Well, I just thought that…" *shoot! What was I supposed to say? I forget!* "…um…Pikachu brought me here. He said you wanted to see me. I figured you must know!" *That was close!*

*So this is what Pikachu was up to this whole time! That dirty rat! Maybe Pikachu isn't the only reason…I hope.* "Oh, I didn't know…Pikachu never told me, he just stole my hat and took off!"

Misty laughed nervously, "Heh, heh…that's funny…" *He must know, now. No, Ash was always too dense to notice anything.*

*Well, I guess there is one way to find out if Pikachu was the only reason…but what if she doesn't like me... I guess I will have to find out some time and this is the best time I'm ever going to get…* He slipped his arm out from her grip and wrapped it around her. "Oh, well. I'll ask Pikachu later."

"Huh?" Misty asked, momentarily confused.

*Uh, oh. She's gonna explode!…I knew it…* Ash thought she was building up to hit him or something.

Misty started crying those funny wavy tears, smiling, and threw her arms around his neck. *It's too good to be true.* "Oh, Ash! I was so worried about you! I just couldn't leave you even after I screwed up. Can you forgive me?"

*Shew! …maybe. Just maybe, Pikachu was right all along and has done me a favor. I really owe that pokémon a lot.* Ash felt relieved and answered, "Forgive you? Hey, I was the one that ran off! I'm…well…I'm sorry too."

"Yeah, you're right," Misty said slyly.

"Hey!" Ash glared in mock-agitation.

"But it's okay," Misty said in her normal tone.

"Thanks, Misty," Ash said, his eyes clouding over.

"Ash?" Misty asked.

"What?" Ash asked, clearing his eyes.

" Just don't leave again," she said and kissed him on his cheek.

"I…won't," Ash said afterwards and blushed.

"Good," Misty smiled.

They both leaned closer and closed their eyes, knowing what was coming, until they kissed. They pulled apart after a few seconds.

"I…" Ash started as things finally started to click in his head.

"Well…I love you, Ash. No matter what I said before." Misty said, giggling at the look on Ash's face.

"But I thought that you just wanted your—" Ash started until his thoughts cut him off. *I still haven't done that, have I?*

"Bike? You believed that?! No…I just wanted someone to be with at first. Then I saw how much you loved your pokémon and just wondered if eventually you would care about…me," Misty said, still feeling a little bashful.

"Really?" Ash asked.

"Yeah."

"Well then I guess even you couldn't be the romantic of your own life…or else you would have known that…I love you, too," Ash smiled.

"You're not serious, are you?" Misty still couldn't believe her ears.

"As serious as I could be. I…just thought that you hated me and only stuck around for the bike."

"You believed me?" Misty exclaimed.

"Why wouldn't I?" Ash asked, a little embarrassed because he didn't notice before.

Misty smiled, "You are so dense sometimes."

Ash sweat-dropped, "I try not to be."

*It's getting late, isn't it. Espeon is probably getting tired. I should get back to the hotel with Ash…but I don't want to go…* Misty thought and then said, "We should be getting back to the hotel. You wouldn't want to be late to the awards ceremony, tomorrow, would you?"

"No," Ash said reluctantly.

Misty held out her hand and smiled cheerfully, "Come on! 'Walk me back?"

"Sure!" Ash answered bashfully.

Espeon smiles as it watches them walk away and dims the light into darkness from miles away.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Yea! They're finally back together! Woo-hoo! *Sweat-drops as she realizes how stupid she is acting* Sorry about that…just a little carried away… One more part to go! Then I just _might_ do a sequel…

Everything depends on the reviews, doesn't it? Please do! I appreciate it!


	14. The Final Conclusion

Disclaimer: I do not own pokémon

Disclaimer: I do not own pokémon! They are copyrighted to Nintendo, Creatures Inc., Game Freak, WB for Kids, and whoever else I left out, please accept my apologies. I am just writing for my amusement (and yours) not for profit like everyone else so don't sue me! Lupusa, Michelle, and Casey are mine, I guess, and so is the plot for this fic.

Author's Notes: Now comes the return of something that I would bet most of you forgot about…

Friends to the End

By Ark9

Chapter Fourteen

The Master Inside

At the breakfast area:

Brock is sitting quietly until he notices Misty and Casey coming in and goes into "pretty girl" mode. Misty sits down across from him. Casey sits down next to him and gives him a sideways glance. He continues to stare. She raises her eyebrows, getting a mischievous gleam in her eye. Misty, however, is watching from the other side of the table, growing more and more scared by the second.

"Um…I'll go get Ash…okay?" she asked nervously.

Brock looks across the table and snickers. "Fine with me!"

Casey smiles and goes to get something to eat (and is soon followed by Brock).

*************

Misty opened the main door to her room and walked over to the door on the opposite wall of her bunk. She knocked a few times with no response.

"Ash! You better get up soon if you want to eat something before the awards ceremony!" Misty called from the other side of Ash's door.

It was as if they were only a movie cast and someone had pushed the fast-forward button. Ash bolted around the room, out the door, and down to the breakfast are where Brock, Casey, and Misty are sitting. Pikachu comes in just a few seconds behind Ash.

Ash hums as he gets a "few" things to eat and then starts to walk over to sit down with everyone else. Pikachu sighs and then decides that it just is going to eat some of Ash's food.

Ash and Pikachu sit down, wondering why Misty is eyeing Brock and Casey as if they are acting out of the ordinary. Ash and Pikachu, of course, eat very quickly and loudly. Soon they are done and throw away their paper plates.

Ash walks over and puts his hands on Misty's shoulders.

"So! Are you ready to go? We need to leave! Come on!" he starts babbling and then runs over to the door. They all roll their eyes at Ash's anxiety to get to the awards ceremony. *Surely he is the only one who gets so worked up about it, right? There's no way anyone else does…* they thought.

So they strolled out of the hotel, Ash practically dragging Misty there, and Brock and Casey running to keep up.

"Ash, will you _please_ slow down?" Brock yelled to his friend, almost fifty meters away. He panted as he struggled to keep running.

"I can't!" Ash shouted back. "I'll miss it if I do!" he continued and actually sped up until he reached the stadium.

"Ash!" Misty panted. "Don't ever…do that…again!" she managed to say, hands on her knees, as she tried miserably to catch her breath.

Ash looked down at her and wrinkled his eyebrows. "Sorry, Mist," he said and then smirked. "I'll carry you there if you want! Come here!" he said and started to pull her closer to pick her up.

"No, thanks!" she shouted and sprinted into the stadium, startling a few people in the back.

Ash walked in and looked for Misty. He saw her a few feet away, behind some people. He sneaked up behind her and covered her mouth with one hand and her eyes with the other.

"Guess who?" he whispered in her ear and uncovered her mouth so that she could answer.

"Ash! Don't do that!" she whispered back in a very annoyed tone.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder. "Sorry, Misty," he whispered.

Misty felt like she had a wildfire spreading through her body. She squinted her eyes closed, not wanting to become attached to anyone, but finding that increasingly difficult. "It's okay," she said.

Ash smiled when he felt her tense up. He whispered sarcastically, "Don't let me get to you! Fight it!"

Misty whipped around and threw her arms around him. "Some day I'll get you for this," she whispered back threateningly, pushing her face against his chest. "Just you wait," she added.

He looked down, his eyes starting to get watery as she said that. "I will," he said. "I'll wait as long as you need."

She chuckled under her breath. "Come on, you. It's about time for the ceremony to start," she said and pulled him away by his hand. Brock and Casey walked in then, and followed them slowly to the front.

"Welcome to the Pokémon League Awards Ceremony!" an older-looking man announced. "First, we will hand out the participation trophies…"

—EPILOGUE—

Everyone got his or her participation trophies and Misty sent hers to the gym with a letter that she wouldn't even show to Ash.

Ash, of course, sent his to his mom, promising that he would tell her about them whenever he was home next.

Brock sent his to his father to show that he was still trying, and got knocked out by the new master, himself.

Casey disappeared. Ash and Pikachu refused to look for her, so Misty didn't either. Brock was once again heartbroken, or so he thought. Her last words were, "Gotta catch me, 'cause you gotta catch 'em all!"

No one understood what that was about. Misty swore that she was going to ask Lupusa and Michelle at her next opportunity. Ash said that he'd help find them, too, so Pikachu will be there as well.

So now Brock is trying to find his way back to where he found Lupusa all those years ago. Misty is once again hanging out with Ash, much to the resentment of her three older sisters. But she only took Gyridos, Starmie, and Staryu with her. Togepi is off of its vacation and back with Professor Oak. Her other pokémon are in the hands of her sisters to help guard the gym in her absence, as well as Kingler, who still thinks that it lives there.

Pikachu resides on Ash's shoulder most of the time. Ash is making up his mind about what he is going to do next. That's who we are going to continue with, of course. He is the main character after all!

"Pika!" Yeah! it nods and then is consumed by the darkness of the disappearing screen.

*************

"Come on, Misty! Are you packed, yet?" Ash asked playfully from the other side of her door.

"No, Ash. Just hold your ponytas. I'll be done _really_ soon, okay?" Misty shouted from her room.

"Can I come in?" Ash asked, a little bashfully.

"I guess," she replied and then opened the door. "Because I am finished re-packing!" she finished.

"Well, all you had to pack was your little red bag," Ash said smartly. He ducked out of the way as Misty aimed a kick at his head. He caught her foot and held it up. "What're you going to do now?" he smirked.

"Ash!" she shouted, hopping on the one leg underneath her and holding onto his shoulders for support. "Alright, I get the point!"

He gently lowered it down to the ground and smiled, "Ready to head out, now?" he asked.

"Yep," she replied.

"I haven't been north of here before, have you?" he retorted. "Maybe we should head that way…"

"Here we go again!" she said and started off right after Ash.

They ran off, Pikachu momentarily running beside Ash as they ran over several hills, each gaining a little height.

Eventually, they stopped being quite as excited and slowed down as they realized that they weren't on little hills anymore.

"Ash, where should this take us, anyway?" Misty called from a few feet behind min, trying to push through the wind.

"I have no idea," he yelled. He held Pikachu tight in his arms, trying to keep it warm. He had his eyes squinted almost completely shut against the harsh blizzard wind that tried to push him where he didn't want to go.

"Let's stop, Ash. We're going to get so far lost that we won't be able to get back. I'm staying right here," she shouted stubbornly, folding her arms across her chest.

"Suit yourself," he replied and turned around to see if she was serious. Suddenly the wind whipped Pikachu out of him arms. "Pikachu!" he wailed and tried to catch up with the wind that carried his friend away.

Misty collapsed on the ground, too exhausted to move, let alone to keep up while chasing the wind.

Ash pushed on, determined to get to Pikachu, wherever the wind had taken him. But soon his voice started to get hoarse and he could hardly convince his feet to keep moving. The cold bit through his clothes, and stung his skin, so he was more than relieved when he saw an ice cave nearby. Gladly, he crawled inside, sat down against the ice wall and leaned his head back.

"Good think we found this, huh, Misty?" he whispered, his voice about ready to give out. He waited for a few seconds before it hit him that Misty wasn't there. Then it hit him.

"This is just like that dream!" he thought out loud. "Whoa! This is just weird." He walked around and felt to make sure that the walls were real. His eyes narrowed at the realization that this _was_ real and he _was_ living his dream.

"Well, I'm Ash Ketchum, Pokémon Master. I won't be defeated by a mere dream! I'm going to get them back or go down, trying!" he said, voice returning through his determination.

With that, he ran out of the cave again, calling to his friends. "Pikachu? Misty? I know you are out here somewhere!" Over and over he repeated that, until he heard a faint, "Pikapi!"

"Pikachu? Where are you? Just keep calling! I'll find you!" he called and then started running towards where the Pikachu chatter came from. Eventually, he stumbled upon what looked like a small yellow rock with brown stripes across its back. "Pikachu!" he said in excitement.

"Pikapi?" it cried weakly as Ash dug it out. When he finally finished, Pikachu jumped out and hugged his trainer. "Pikachu," Thank you. it said.

Ash wiped his frozen nose and petted Pikachu's back softly. "Pikachu? Do you remember five years ago? …when we ran away from the others?"

"Pika," Yeah. it said softly.

"Well, I said that I was scared. That it would happen some time, you know?" Ash continued, tears forming in his eyes. "It happened, Pikachu."

"Pikachu?"

"I found you," Ash sad, trying to make his voice cheer up a little, "but I still haven't found Misty, yet. She'll die out here in this whether! What should I do?"

"Pika!" Follow me! Pikachu shouted suddenly and started sniffing the ground, but finding nothing other than Ash's scent. Thinking that they would eventually lead them to Misty, or her scent, he started following it.

Ash followed behind his pokémon, knowing that the only person who had been out there any time recent enough to still have their scent in the new wave of snow was him, but he trusted Pikachu, and followed, anyway.

Soon Pikachu came to the cave and let out a small "pika" in recognition of what Ash had always described from the dream. He continued a few yards from the cave and found Misty's scent and sighed in relief.

"What is it, Pikachu?" Ash asked, worried about why it had sighed.

"Pikachu! Pika pika!" I found a scent…and it's Misty's! Pikachu called back excitedly and then kept its small nose against the ice.

"Misty!" Ash shouted in excitement and ran up to where she lay, obviously unconscious. He felt her pulse and smiled when he found it. "She's okay, Pikachu. It's going to be fine," he said happily and picked her up.

"Pikachu!" Yea! Pikachu said and smiled its cutest smile.

"Come on!" he said and started walking towards the cave. "We're all going to make it through this."

"Chu," it nodded.

Ash walked back to the cave and sat down against the wall again and held Misty in his lap. He wrapped his arms around her cold shoulders and Pikachu jumped into her lap to join the huddle to keep warm.

A few minutes later Misty's eyes flicked open. She looked at the yellow pokémon staring right back at her and then up at Ash, who had already fallen asleep in total exhaustion. She smiled. Pikachu relaxed and closed its eyes. She now knew what they all had found; they would be friends to the end.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Did you forget about the dream? I said it would come back, eventually. I thought that it would probably be at the end, too…

So…should I do a sequel? Did it make sense? Where the characters "in character" at all? Most importantly: Did you enjoy reading it? Will you _please_ review? (…and you're probably wondering "Will she ever stop asking me questions?")

I'll shut up now. I just can't believe it's over! ;_;

*starts bawling* WAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"*!_*! (Eighth notes) 

…In the end, there is beginning, 

In our time, infinite, 

What remains until its season,

Something God alone can see…*!_*!"


End file.
